Friday, January 8, 2010

escape


Thinking about temptation and 1 Corinthians 10:13 where Paul says, "... 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."

Thinking about how maybe we don't escape because we kinda like where we are. I mean, that's the point of temptation, right? We aren't usually tempted to do things we hate.
If I were held captive in a luxury spa, sleeping on a feather bed with a fireplace in my room, bathing in special spritzer water and soaking in hot tubs, eating gourmet nourishing meals and walking through flower gardens, I wouldn't be searching for a way of escape.

But if we see sin as the death and destruction it really is, a drippy, dungeon, then perhaps we would scan eagerly for the way of escape. Captivity is captivity, no matter how pleasant it may seem.

And here's my other thought. The way of escape is seldom a wide open door with sleeping guards and a disabled security system. The way of escape is hard to find. It takes ingenuity sometimes and a lot of searching.

When temptation comes we may glance around once and shrug and say, "well, I guess I'm trapped" and dive right in. We don't look very hard, do we?

On the other hand. If we at least cried out and asked God to show us the way out, I think He would. He doesn't want us to sin. He wants us to want to not sin. In the Bible he did do some of those wide open door, sleeping guard, kind of tricks for his followers who were in prison. I think He would do it for us as well.

So there is always a way out. The question is, do we look for it? Do we want out?

3 comments:

  1. Great post. I love the part about being at a spa. Sounds like a place I would like to spend a lot of time but like you said, temptation is temptation, it usually comes in a very pleasing form.
    So glad God does give us an escape route if we will only look for it.
    Diane

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