“But God is faithful, who will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Living a religious life is not without its difficulty, but it is often simpler than we think. The natural simplicity of devotion to God is the peaceful handling of individual moments that come before us one by one. Some of these moments are definitely harder than others. Powerful desires can rise and threaten to overthrow our conscience. When our principles are tested, we may find that we do not have as much commitment to them as we thought. Or we may find that we are just fooling ourselves – the principles we are claiming are not actually our true principles. But despite these difficulties, no moment demands anything impossible from us. Our trials come in single file, and if we take them as they come, we can learn to manage our moments more effectively.
In 1 Corinthians 10:13, we are assured that the difficulties of temptation will never be more than we can bear. No matter how strongly we are tempted, there will always be “a way to escape.” But the key to doing what’s right is to manage the moments, which means breaking down big difficulties into decisions that are small enough for us to handle. God is willing to help us, but only with our real needs Present Moment. “One is given the strength to endure what happens to him, but one is not given the strength to endure a hundred and one different things that might happen” (CS Lewis). God doesn’t save us from everything possible issues; he helps us Real issues.
No matter how dire our difficulties, the right step to take at any given moment will always involve doing something that is quite possible. freedom means that we can do take this step, and responsibility means that we Needed Take it. If we fail to exercise the freedom given to us, we will lose it and become slaves to the flesh. How much better it would be if we learned to manage our moments with wisdom, strength and peace.
“Character is formed by our daily confrontation with temptation, by our regular response to the call of duty. It is formed when we learn to cherish principles and to submit to self-discipline. Character is the sum of all the little decisions, the little actions, the daily reactions to the choices that confront us” (Sidney Greenberg).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
