No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13
The word temptation has come to mean something bad to us today; we tend to use the word in the wrong way. Temptation itself is not sin; it is something we are bound to face simply by virtue of being human. We suffer from the results of temptations we should never have to suffer, simply because we have refused to allow God to lift us to a higher level where we would face temptations of another kind.
A person’s inner nature, what he possesses in the inner, spiritual part of his being, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the true nature of the person being tempted and reveals the possibilities of his nature. Every person actually determines or sets the level of his own temptation, because temptation will come to him in accordance with the level of his controlling, inner nature.
Temptation is something that confuses us for a while, and we don’t know whether something is right or wrong. When we yield to it, the temptation itself becomes the proof that it was only our own fear that prevented us from falling into the sin earlier.
Temptation is not something we can escape; in fact, it is essential to the well-rounded life of a person. Beware of thinking that you are tempted as no one else. What you go through is the common inheritance of the human race, not something that no one has ever before endured. God does not save us from temptations—He sustains us in the midst of them. What was it that Paul said earlier to the Corinthian Christians? No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man;. So then the writer says in Hebrews 4:15–16:
15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Billy Graham once said that “Only a strong faith—a faith based on God’s Word—will protect us from temptation and doubt.”
God’s Word promises us that we can and should call on Him. Temptation is real and something that will and does come into our life. We cannot escape it and we must deal with it. How we deal with it is our choice. We can do what we foolishly attempt quite often which is to handle it ourselves and thus yield to the temptation.
You cannot and will not ever see in life the absence of temptation. You will, however, be able to deal with the temptation if you rely on Him and the promise from His Word and remember ...God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
A thought to ponder-
Elbert Nasworthy
