Two
years ago I began praying for discipline.
I was stuck in a rut of some very unhealthy choices. Between my physical health, mental health and
spiritual health, I wasn’t sure which one I was most concerned about.
After
a couple of encounters with some very close people, I lost 20+ pounds. But I didn’t “feel” any different. I was still praying for discipline. All these “common to man” sins were still
occurring in my life.
Fast
forward to April of this year. Suddenly, I began walking every day, multiple times a day. I was logging the miles and the food I
ate. And people noticed. People were asking me what made me decide to
do this. By the end of July this year, I
had lost 50 pounds total from two years ago!
My answer to these people asking why and how I lost the weight was, I
prayed for discipline and this happened.
I seriously did not know why I kept going out on my lunch hour to walk
and was aware of my eating habits.
In
August of this year, I began preparing to write for this study. Topics like commitment, sacrifice, confession
and repentance made me realize the discipline I truly needed. I needed to learn to confess things like, “I ate something I didn’t need; or I bought
something I should not have spent money on; or I should not have judged her
like I just did; or these thoughts are not Christ-like”
I
eventually realized that I lacked discipline in repentance of all of these “common
to man” little sins. The discipline of
realizing all the grumbling I was doing inside my head was destroying my heart –
the place where Jesus wanted to reside.
And I wanted Him there, but I had allowed all these common sins to move
in a make my heart filthy.
Many
of us go throughout our day and these very common sins occur and we do not
realize the dangerous situation we have gotten ourselves into. These are dangerous temptations because they
are aimed at where we are weakest and our fallen selfishness. This is why Satan concentrates most of his
efforts on them. They encourage us to nurture
a fantasy that the world we perceive is our
world. And in this fantasy world, we
ought to possess what we desire and things ought to go our way.
This passage has five hope-giving truths you must embrace in the midst of your storm.
1. No temptation
has overtaken you that is not common to man.
You are not alone. You’re not the first person to go through what
you’re experiencing. Whether you’ve lost a loved one, your job, your marriage,
or your battle against sin, there are millions of people around the world and
throughout history who have experienced essentially the same thing. This
should give you an incredible amount of hope.
You’re probably thinking, What hope is there in that? The
answer is simply this: common problems have common solutions. Your situation
has details unique to you, but at its core it is just like what many other
people experience. Scripture was written to people who were in many ways like
us. They experienced pain and death; they had bad marriages and problems in
church; they struggled with the same kinds of sin we do. Therefore, the
solutions God gave them apply to us as well. Whatever your struggle is, the solution is in the Bible.
2. God is faithful.
No true Christian would deny God’s faithfulness. But maybe you’ve
been tempted to wonder if He’ll be faithful to you. Make no
mistake, “if we are faithless He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself”
(2 Timothy 2:13).
God’s very character is at stake, and God will never be found lacking.
God’s faithfulness always overcomes sin and persecution. God
promised His faithfulness to Israel, even after they’d committed unspeakable
acts of idolatry (Ezekiel 16:59-63). God was faithful to David even after he
sinned with Bathsheba. God was faithful to Peter even after he denied Jesus
three times. God was faithful to Daniel in the lion’s den and Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. Sin and impossible circumstances
are no match for God’s faithfulness.
3. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you’re able.
Whatever you’re facing right now, God’s grace is sufficient for
you (2 Corinthians 12:9).
It may not feel like it’s possible, but on the basis of God’s
character and by His strength you can overcome your trial. Maybe you’ve
observed others going through difficult times and thought to yourself, I
could never go through that. The truth is if God placed it into your life,
He would give you the grace to go through it. Whatever you’re experiencing now,
God gives you the grace to endure it.
4. With the temptation He will also provide a way of escape.
God has provided, in every situation, a path for
you to take. There is always a choice of roads to travel. When faced with the
temptation to sin, you can choose to succumb or you can choose to resist and
flee. When you are confronted with a difficult ordeal, you can succumb to
despair and anxiety or you can endure with the strength He provides. Whatever
your situation, God’s Word will light the way of escape and show you the path
to follow to get you through the situation and out of enemy territory.
5. You will be able to endure it.
After reminding you your situation is common, God is faithful, and
He will strengthen and guide you through difficult times, Paul assures
you if you follow God’s path, you can and will endure. If you’re
weighed down with the pressures of life, God may not remove the burden, but He
will strengthen your legs to endure.
Think about it. The Bible isn’t only for people with simple
problems—getting cut off on the freeway or plumbing issues. The Bible addresses
all people and all problems, whether trivial (bad traffic, clogged faucet) or
severe (life dominating sins, terminal illness).
The apostles had personally evangelized and taught many of the
people to whom they wrote. Reading their letters you quickly realize people and
churches had very difficult problems and they needed apostolic
instruction. In fact, the Hebrew Scriptures were for New Testament believers
what the entire Bible is to us—“Now these things happened to them as an
example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the
ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11).
So when you read 1 Corinthians
10:13, know for certain that no matter the depth of your temptation
or trial, the Lord is faithful, He has provided your way of escape, and
you can endure it.
I didn’t realize when we began our respite from writing that the
task I was given to select the topics to write about would be the best thing
for me! God aligned the break and my
test to be disciplined and walk and watch what I was eating and buying, and
then return to our study. God showed me
that my heart was really breaking His.
Every Sunday I would ask Him to show me what was breaking His
heart. And now I am here to share and
plead with you all to truly take note of your mind and thoughts and some of
your little habits. Ask the Lord to
reveal the sin you are committing.
Because if you are like me, you may have a heart condition that no one
can see and so even those closest to you won’t realize it. God is faithful. When our hearts align with God’s will, you
will experience the most incredible freedom.
