God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. 1 Corinthians 10:13
Stanley loves the freedom and flexibility that his job as a private-hire driver gives him. Among other things, he can start and stop work anytime, and he doesn’t have to account for his time and movements to anyone. Yet, he said, that’s ironically the hardest part.
“In this job, it’s so easy to start an extramarital affair,” he admitted frankly. “I pick up all sorts of passengers, yet no one, including my wife, knows where I am each day.” It’s not an easy temptation to resist, and many of his fellow drivers have given in to it, he explained. “What stops me is considering what God would think, and how my wife would feel,” he said.
Our God, who created each one of us, knows our weaknesses, desires, and how easily we’re tempted. But as 1 Corinthians 10:11-13 reminds us, we can ask Him for help. “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear,” Paul says. “When you are tempted, [God] will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (v. 13). That “way out” could be a healthy fear of the consequences, a guilty conscience, remembering Scripture, a timely distraction, or something else. As we ask God for strength, the Spirit will turn our eyes from what’s tempting us and help us look toward the way out that He’s given us.
What temptations are you facing today? What way out might God be giving you to keep on His right and holy path?
Father, You know my weaknesses. Please give me the strength to resist temptation and to walk with You, in Your holy and life-giving ways.
For further study, read Walking Free: Overcoming What Keeps Us from Jesus.
INSIGHT
Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth follows a decidedly different pattern than most of his other “church” letters. The apostle usually opens with a section of doctrine (teaching) and follows that with a section of practical application. The first part helps us with what to believe and the second with how to practically live out those beliefs.
In 1 Corinthians, however, the apostle spends the first fourteen chapters addressing problems within the church at Corinth. Some of the chapters are in response to questions asked by the church itself (see 7:1). Then in chapter 15, he provides the single most detailed theological study of the resurrection in the New Testament. The final chapter (ch. 16) contains a few brief statements of practical exhortation.
Hear more about the problems addressed in Paul’s letters to the Corinthians.