Overcomer

1 Corinthians 10:¹³ “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” (emphasis added).

“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience…” Your case is not special; as much as you would think it is, it is not. I am sorry. However, God is faithful to keep temptation from becoming so strong that you cannot stand up against it. That is the faithfulness of God. Do I get an Amen? So, God promises (guarantees) to help you when you are tempted. The truth is, there are areas you will be tempted for the rest of your life. Yes, most of us would prefer that there is some spiritual level we will get to where we will be above temptation, or perhaps never even get tempted at all. Sorry, that is not going to happen.

If you look at the story of Jesus, who while on earth was a hundred percent God and a hundred percent man, was tempted. Jesus was tempted! And guess what? In Luke 4, when Jesus was tempted, you would think that that was it for the rest of His life. No. In Luke 4:¹³ “When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came.” What does “…until the next opportunity came” mean? It means the devil was going to come back to tempt Jesus again. Hebrews 4:¹⁵ “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (NIV). This is the difference between Jesus and us.

Jesus was tempted, but Jesus did not sin. Jesus did not outgrow temptation. You will not outgrow temptation as long as you are here on earth. I know someone who used to drink so much that when he tried to stop drinking by himself, he actually slumped. He had to be rushed to the hospital, and the doctor told him that there was so much alcohol in his system that he could not just stop. He has to stop drinking gradually. But guess what? When Jesus came into his life, he lost the taste for alcohol completely. He said one day he opened his fridge and heard the knocking of bottles. That was when he realized that he still had alcoholic drinks in his fridge.

Guess what? As he continues to do life, a time will come when the enemy will still try to tempt him with alcohol. That is how it works. But as he follows Jesus, he will get stronger and stronger to keep saying no. It is a continuous battle that we have to keep winning.

Prayer: Father, as I follow Jesus, make me stronger and stronger so that like Christ I will overcome till the end and get my reward, in the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen!