I had a close call recently, when I was on my way to the dog park. I needed to make a lane change, so I checked to see that I was clear and started to move over. Suddenly there was another car in my way; I have no idea where it came from. Before my conscious mind registered what was happening, my hands turned the wheel and I managed to avoid a collision. As you might well expect, I was praising God all the rest of the way to the dog park.
The recognition that God has just protected me from danger is incredible. But it has also provoked some thoughts. The Apostle Paul wrote:
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. 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 endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).
The question that strikes me now is, why don’t I get as excited when I successfully avoid temptation to sin as I do when I avoid a car accident? The accident that almost happened on my way to the dog park would almost certainly not have injured anybody; the relative speed was pretty low. It would most likely only have cost some money. So if I celebrate God’s protection for something like that, shouldn’t I celebrate it even more when he protects me from falling into sin? It occurs to me that I often don’t treat sin as seriously as God does. And that’s concerning, because it probably means I’m not paying attention like I should.
I trust in God’s protection, but that doesn’t mean I fail to pay attention to where my car is going, or do any other stupid thing God hasn’t told me to do (Matthew 4:5-7). How does it make sense, then, to pay no attention to the direction my heart and my mind are drifting? I notice in this passage that God does not promise I will be strong enough to resist temptation; he promises, instead, to provide a way to escape. But how can I use that escape if I don’t pay attention and recognize when I need it? Temptation begins with desire (James 1:14-15), so we need to stay aware of what our minds and our hearts are thinking about.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4).
Contrary to what is commonly believed, nowhere in the Bible are we told to resist temptation. Rather, the command is to flee. Flee from sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18), idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14), greed (1 Timothy 6:11) and “the evil desires of youth” (1 Timothy 2:22). Jesus did not teach his disciples how to defeat temptation; he told them to pray that they would not fall into it (Matthew 6:13, 26:41, Mark 14:38, Luke 11:4, 22:40, 22:46). Resist the devil, we’re told (James 4:7), but flee from temptation. The way of escape, then, is not the willpower to resist temptation, but the wisdom to avoid it.
Set your hearts on things above (Colossians 3:1).
And since temptation stems from desire, the way out is also to desire Jesus even more. To learn to say, “I’m not even going to walk down that path, because I like this path better.” Which means that, in the end, what I need is not just, or even primarily, a better view of sin; it’s a better view of Christ. To never stop falling in love with the one who died for me. The way out is up.