1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV) says, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."
It's very easy to try to govern affairs in our own way. We see this in 2 Samuel 7, where David wants to build a temple and God, through Nathan, refuses it. We see this in the cautions Paul gives at the beginning of 1 Corinthians 10, where he reminds us that people who take their spiritual lives into their own hands routinely go astray. With this in mind, why do we misinterpret 1 Corinthians 10.13? You don't have to be a Christian long to hear someone tell you that when you are tempted you need to trust God's faithfulness and look for the way of escape that he has provided. This well-meaning individual then follows that counsel up with his own ways of trying to govern the situation.
Time for a reality check. It won't work. We've been there, done that. We've ended up in temptation and tried to resolve it with our own plans, our own steadfastness, our own willpower, our own self-control. Somehow this all seems to be correlated with times we have failed. Are God's promises ineffective? We could certainly come to that conclusion, couldn't we?
Let's look again. God has provided a way of escape. What is that way of escape? It is that Jesus Christ, the perfect Man, has endured all manner of temptation, in our stead, on our behalf, and has done it without sin. It is that Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, has died for our sin, knowing that in this way we will not die for our own sin. It is that Jesus has atoned for the sinful condition of mankind and for our individual sins, even before we were born and able to commit any of them. Are we going to be tempted? Certainly. Are we going to sin? Without a doubt. Our knowledge of that fact doesn't excuse our sin. Nor does God excuse our sin. It's greater than that. Rather than wink at sin and excuse it, Christ died for sin. He died for your sin, he died for my sin, and he did it so we would have a way to endure temptation. He did it to provide us a way of escape.
Have we sinned today? You bet. If there's any doubt, as Luther says, "Pinch yourself. See if you still have flesh and blood." As long as we are in this earthly tent, we are sinning. And Christ has provided a way of escape. Thanks be to God. We needed that forgiveness, ever so much more than we realized.
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