Standing Firm Carefully

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

STANDING FIRM CAREFULLY

 

1 Cor 10:11-13

11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. 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 stand up under it.

NIV

There we are again, seeing this concept of standing firm, but this time it is about temptation. The warning here is that we should not think that we are so strong that we will no longer sin, that we have won and are sinless. This would be thinking more highly of ourselves than we should. The warning is about that, thinking that we are standing firm and finding out that instead, we might just be falling into the temptation of pride. We are told here that all of us have temptations and they are common to all mankind. It is the way we are wired, which seems strange to say considering that God created us to be his image bearers, forming Adam into His very likeness. The only difference at that point was that God was the only one who had the knowledge of good and evil. Adam was innocent, but temptation took hold of him, and sin entered into our being. We all now know both good and evil and have the opportunity to choose which we will follow. Although Adam and Eve were tempted by the idea that if they ate from that tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would be like God, that knowledge does not make us like God. Although He knows both good and evil, He cannot be tempted nor can He sin, but we can both be tempted, and we can and do fall into sin. However, even if we are tempted with all that is common to man, God is faithful, and He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear. What does that mean? Does God give us the strength to resist temptation? Surely, we cannot resist it on our own strength, for even thinking that we can then we would have fallen prey to the temptation of pride. When we are faced with temptation, we should turn to God for the strength to resist. The problem is that many sins give us pleasure, and we might not be too quick in turning to God but allow ourselves that moment of pleasure and then seek his forgiveness. But that is not what we are told is the correct way to walk in the path of the Lord.

We are to make every effort to avoid being in a situation that would be a temptation to us. However, that would mean we would have to live in a bubble, never having any contact with other people, never reading anything, or watching anything on any form of media, thus living in total isolation. However, we cannot as we have been told to go out into the world and be image bearers of Christ, showing others, the love of Christ, and bringing the good news to them. Life can be messy, and we are to enter that mess and chaos and bring the peace of Christ into it. So, in doing that, we will also face many temptations, and in all reality, we will fall into some. But we are always to look to God, seeking Him above all else, and we will make it through this life because we have been redeemed and declared holy and blameless in his sight. In that truth, we can stand firm.