No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (I Corinthians 10:13)
“But you don’t understand.”
“It’s different for me.” (Or “It’s
different for you.”)
“Everyone else is doing it.”
Sometimes, we long to be “normal,” and sometimes, we want to be the exception. Sometimes, we try to
excuse ourselves using both ideas at the same time.
Every time I hear myself telling God that
He doesn’t understand, I have to laugh. The fact is that God understands. Other
people very likely understand much more than we give them credit for. And we
aren’t different. We’re just as weak as other people are – though the exact
level of weakness changes from moment to moment and temptation to temptation. Some things don’t tempt me all, and things that do tempt me that you’d
think ridiculous.
We are even tempted by this passage. People
misquote it, claiming that God won’t give us anything we can’t handle. That’s
not what the passage says. It says that God will give us a way out of
temptation. It probably won’t be miraculous. It may involve having to talk to someone – or actively seek something to do to counter the temptation.
It ay require that we stop going to the places, watching the programs, or reading
the print material that tends to lead us into tempting situations. It might
even require that we listen to different music. Taking a walk that removes you
from the temptation might be useful. It might involve the school of hard
knocks, in which you learn that what you wanted so much makes your
life miserable. And – of course – prayer and praise are probably more useful
than all the rest combined.
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