"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it."
1 Corinthians 10:13, HCSB
You see, Christian siblings, the Father knows that we will go through temptations and trials. He knows what they are, when they'll come, whether or not we'll succeed, and what the outcome will be. Given that knowledge, He has provided a window of escape in each and every scenario. The issue, though, is do we take the escape route? Do we see it at all? Do we bother to search for it? Sometimes the way out is a massive and obvious opening, and other times I'm certain it's harder to find... but know this, friend, it IS there.
And I know, you're thinking that this was going to be an encouraging segment that uplifted the mind and spirit away from pride with an amazing nugget of truth that would make the prior segments seem not so bad, but this is just what I promised in the beginning would happen. See, I'm going to openly admit that there are situations in which I have not bothered to search for the exit strategy from whatever it was I was about to do. There are other situations in which I not only didn't look for it, but I actually saw it and CONSCIOUSLY CHOSE to walk away from the simple means of escape that was readily available to me. Can you guess what that's called? That's called pride, friends.
I told you at the beginning of this that I am prideful, and I know that all of the human race suffers under this. However, I can only work on/admit to/discuss with intelligence/etc. matters that pertain and affect me. In that vein, you should know that I am wrestling with one specific point of pride even going through the study, and I noticed it last night as I eagerly searched to see if the previous segment had received any outside thoughts or comments. It's tough, folks, even when you are the one sharing the study points.
So what is our escape from pride? It's the looming question that will tie to the verse (one I'll probably use again as we go through each respective portion), and I pray that I'll be able to convey it properly. However, you should know that the answer FOR ME is all that I can share with you on this point. With that said, my answer to escape pride is almost always the same: turn around, walk away, and shut up. Yeah, that's it. However, as easy as that sounds, I love to talk to anyone about anything, and I love to be in the middle of a great conversation or debate, even if I know I'm going to lose. That stems from my feelings of inadequacy and insecurity from not having the greatest track record in friendships or relationships, whether with family or not, and so I seek approval from anywhere I can find it. The approval I seek serves to feed my pride, which I tend to wound all on my own, with little or no help from the outside world, and then I'm stuck in a downward spiral of self-deprecation that only ends in me seeking to find something that will erase the negativity that I am brewing inside myself. Sounds fun, right?
Wrong. Yet I still wrestle with the prospect of turning around, walking away, and shutting up. And sometimes I even look right into the face of the escape route, as mentioned above, and decide that I'd rather get the quick and easy boost to my pride, so staying in the bad situation is better. The good move, though, would be to simply turn around, walk away, and shut up.
Let me expand that properly for you, though, because I need to turn away from whatever my pride is telling me I should be involved in; I need to walk away from the world, and walk toward the Father; and I need to just SHUT UP!!! The irony in that is that Exodus 14:14 is one of my favorite verses to remind myself that I should be quiet, because God will fight for me. I tend to make things worse by trying to get overly involved in them, and I should just shut up. My path should be the one that take my family and me to a closer walk with the Father, regardless of how difficult it may become, and my focus should ONLY be on that: the edification of the Father and the Son and the Spirit through a right relationship with Him, which leads to a right relationship with my wife and children, which will lead to a right relationship with others.
Similarly, the verse used today is a favorite of mine, because I know that God has provided for me a means to escape temptation, even in the area of pride. But even though I know this to be the truth, I still tend to wrestle against it for some reason... it's because I'm human. The previous segment shows us that only One was able to face AND overcome all temptations, and we know that He is the only human to ever live a sinless life. He is the example we are to model after, but we, in our flesh, are incapable of modeling after Him exactly. Otherwise, this verse today would probably say something like, "Even though you might be tempted, don't sweat it; God's gonna take you right away from that mean old temptation, and you won't have to make any choices to overcome anything at all." There also would be far less verses in the Bible that speak to how foolish and filled with folly we all are, such as Proverbs 26:11 which reads, "As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness."
Let me tell you, I am a dog. I am also a fool. I am a mocker. I am prideful. And I know it. Even typing the admission of it, not knowing exactly who will read it, causes my face to flush and my temperature to rise, because it is uncomfortable to admit in any form, if you're admitting it honestly and without agenda.
But do you know what else I am? I am a Christian. I am a sheep in His flock. I am blessed and highly favored, and I am able to overcome this sin by His grace and power and love for me. I am a Christ-follower. I am in love with Jesus. I am saved, and no one can change that, because no one can overpower the Son of God! (And guess what, sibling I may or may not have the pleasure of personally knowing: the same is true of you, too, if you are a Christian!)
God bless you all!!!
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