No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.                                                                                                  

                                                                                                            1 Corinthians 10:13 

It is quite amazing to see believers and unbelievers alike expecting Christian people to be perfect at all times in their behavior. The reality is that those who have entered into a saving relationship with Jesus are justified before God (Galatians 2:16), they are declared righteous (Romans 4:4-5), and they do have a home in eternity with God and Christ (John 3:18). But for the time spent here on earth, the journey will be filled with ups and downs, successes and failures, and that of making good decisions and bad. But none of this should be a surprise. Although we belong to Jesus and have the power of God’s Spirit living within, as people who live in the flesh, we will make mistakes. This is the subject of today’s passage.

When we are tempted, we need not think that something strange is happening to us. As believers, we are not immune to the power of the flesh pushing its way into our lives. But what we do have is a position in Christ; an eternal standing that allows us to move beyond these temptations, struggles, and failures. When we belong to Jesus, our identity is found in Him regardless of our current behavioral status. This right standing before God is based on Jesus’ performance in this life (one of perfection), something we can never achieve. And because it is based on Him, we can embrace each new day with a clean slate and a fresh start, void of guilt, shame, or the shackles that come from listening to the enemy. God is faithful and our passage demonstrates that for us.

There is no temptation on earth that is not common to everyone. What this means is that there will never be a form of temptation and fleshly desire that hasn’t been experience by someone. We all have our bents. For some, the problem is substance abuse. For others it might be the lure of pornography. And still others, it may be a harboring of past hurts, keeping them from experiencing true, spiritual peace. We do not all struggle with the same things but we do all struggle. This is the nature of living in this world. So the struggle is real but it should not be thought of as something unusual. When we say things like, “I can’t believe I did that” or “What was I thinking?” we are really denying the obvious, that we are not above anyone else when it comes to falling to temptations in this world. In fact, the previous thought to our passage reminds us not to think too highly of ourselves:

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.           

                                                                                                1 Corinthians 10:12 

We are all subject to temptation and failure, the real problem occurs when there is no struggle. In other words, if we can live our lives on our terms without even the slightest consideration for the things of God, we have a serious spiritual problem. When we do not struggle with sin, we show ourselves to be void of the Spirit of God. This would indicate that we are still spiritually dead and without hope apart from Christ. It is the intersection of our willingness to serve God and our desire to please self that presents itself as a spiritual struggle. But God has taken care of everything and if we would only yield to His desire for our lives, we would experience victory.

God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to handle. This is good news. The temptations in our lives are not a surprise to God. In fact, He anticipates them and knows exactly what we need in order to be victorious over them. In addition to God overseeing the amount of temptation we experience, He also provides the way in which we can escape the temptation and the spiritual trauma that it can pose on those who fall to its power. The goal of this supernatural power of providing an escape is so that we can endure the temptation. To endure is to withstand, to go through, and to live through an experience. In other words, it is God’s faithfulness that allows us to stand after going through events that might have devastated others. That is why it is so important for us to continue to foster a relationship with Christ daily.

It is amazing that our human nature (often with the help of the enemy) tells us that when we spiritually fail, we should run from God. Remember Adam and Eve in the Garden? After disobeying God, what was the first thing that they did? They ran and hid themselves from God (as if anyone could actually do such a thing). When we fail or are simply struggling with something (struggle means that we have not mastered it yet), we should always run towards God, not away. But we can observe the bad spiritual decision of running made by many. If you have ever known others who have struggled with a particular sin, it is quite possible that they have found themselves avoiding church activities, such as worship. Often, their hunger for the study of scripture also wanes during this time. The spiritual life that they once enjoyed can often seem to be undetectable. But it is not suppose to be this way. God already knows about the struggle and desires for us to bring everything to Him, the good and the bad. And it is when we bring our struggle and failure to Him that we find restoration, reconciliation, joy, and peace.

Are you struggling with some temptation? Do you feel that you are alone in that struggle? Well, let me assure you that you are not. But the key to victory is to embrace the forgiveness, mercy, and grace of God each day and refuse to allow your mind to be filled with the enemy’s accusatory words. If you belong to Jesus, you are eternally secure. Now go and live each new day as if you had never sinned at all! This is the power of your standing in Christ!