“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV)

In this verse Paul is essentially informing us that there isn’t a sin that God can’t deliver us from, that is, if we would but call on Him to give us strength to resist the temptation to yield to it. Now, you might be thinking that temptation isn’t sin, so why speak of being delivered from sin when this verse is addressing the subject of temptation?

Well, there’s more to this verse than meets the eye!

You see, temptation precedes sin, and it is at the point of temptation that people either resist evil or fall into it. Unfortunately, a lot of people suffer from what is known as ‘habitual sin’, meaning, they keep falling into the same sins over and over again. In other words, they don’t resist the temptation to avoid the ‘sin of their choice’; instead, they submit to it on a regular basis.

But if no temptation is beyond God’s power to enable us to resist diving into it, then why do people continue to fall into the same sins over and over again?

It all comes down to choice; people sin because they choose to.  Many will deny this however, because they are under the impression that they can’t help it.  But what they are really implying when they speak like this is that God isn’t big enough to deliver them from their sins.  Thus they treat their sin as though it were bigger than God.  My question for these people is, ‘Where is your faith?’

Listen, when Paul said no temptation he meant just that. He didn’t say some temptation or most temptations, but no temptation.

So there’s really no excuse to justify sin in our lives; it is a lack of will on our part to avoid giving in to it because we love it too much to let it go.  But if we would cast our cares on Jesus Christ, exercising true faith in the power of God, we would overcome any temptation.

Jesus said,

if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.  (Matthew 17:20 NKJV)

How could anyone who has genuine faith in Jesus Christ deny His words?  Are the mountains of sin in your life too big for God to handle?  Indeed, God can move those mountains away if you would but ask Him to.

Therefore, when temptation strikes, don’t make excuses to give in to sin; instead, kneel before God in prayer and ask Him for strength to resist evil; and don’t stop praying until the devil flees from you. When you do this you will know what it means to walk in victory with Him who has overcome the world, that is, Jesus Christ.

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