The secret to escaping temptation.
“No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, and He will not permit you to be tempted above what you can endure, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
- 1 Corinthians 10:13
The Apostle Paul said that you’re not alone in any temptation. Every kind of temptation is common (other people struggle with it, too). Not only that but God will not allow you to be tempted with more than what you can handle. If we focus on Him and stop focusing on the thing that’s tempting us, we’ll win every time. Really? Yes, because the Bible says that God always offers a way of escape.
It can be difficult to take this way of escape, because of how our enemy (Satan) lies to us. He tries to make the temptation look better than following God. Satan tells us that we’ll never be happy if we don’t follow him. There’s a reason Jesus called the devil “the father of lies” (John 8:44).
Remember what happened the last time you yielded to temptation. Did you regret it? How about what happened the last time you resisted temptation? Did you regret that? As one man said, “There have been many times I regretted giving in to temptation, but there’s never been a time I regretted resisting it.”
When Satan tells you that you won’t be happy unless you sin, escape his lies with God’s truth. Hebrews 12:2 tells us to focus on Jesus. Many Christians start to focus on Jesus but don’t keep looking at Him.
Someone I counseled had an anger problem. He wanted to hurt people when he got angry. We talked about the need to focus on Jesus. He told me he was going to try that the next time he got angry. Unfortunately, he ended up punching someone. We talked about what happened, and the problem was obvious: he started to focus on Jesus, but quickly shifted his focus back to his anger.
It’s not enough to start focusing on Jesus; we need to keep focusing on Jesus. You might not struggle with violence, but whatever your struggle is, staying focused on Jesus will solve it. You might need to remove things that keep you from focusing on Jesus. Sometimes it’s wise to leave the situation, get accountability software, or call a friend.
As I spend more time talking to Jesus, I find sin less appealing. I don’t want anything to damage my relationship with Him. There have been times when I really struggled, but a strong relationship with Jesus will overcome any struggle.
If you’re struggling with anything, God has the solution. Your struggle might be something obvious to everyone, like punching people. It might be something easier to hide, like looking at evil images. Whatever the problem is, the solution is found in Jesus. He calls you His friend if you follow Him (John 15:14).
Though it can take time to develop a strong relationship, having a close relationship with Jesus means that temptations won’t overcome us (1 John 4:16-17). Follow Him closely, and you’ll see that His words are true (Rom. 12:2).
Charlie Monk is a research assistant at Ann Arbor Baptist Church.
