UNSHAKEABLE: Where are you most vulnerable to temptation? What represents your irresistible compulsion? Maybe it’s a box of Dunkin Doughnuts — perhaps you are an overeater. Maybe it’s the letters S*A*L*E — perhaps you’re an over spender. Maybe it’s an adult site on the Internet — perhaps you’ve got a compulsion for porn. Could it be your compulsion is alcohol or drugs or gambling or gossiping or griping or incessant social media consumption? Maybe it’s the joy of passing judgment on other doughnut-eaters, which, reveals your battle with a critical spirit. Each of us has an area where we do what we shouldn’t and don’t do what we should. How hopeless we feel at times! So, who will rescue us from the doughnuts?” Jesus will!
Unshakeable Living // Romans 7:15,19,24
For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do… For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice… O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Huh? Did you catch that? Paul had a convoluted way of saying something straightforward, which was simply this: “I do what I shouldn’t and I don’t do what I should — man, am I in trouble!”
Can you relate to Paul? I sure can. He was in a wrestling match with sin, and sin was whupping up on him. It was frustrating because Paul knew what he shouldn’t be doing — yet he was drawn to sin like a mouse to a cheese-laden trap or an insect to a bug zapper or bees to honey — pick your metaphor.
Let me ask you this: Where are you most vulnerable to temptation? What represents your cheese-laden mousetrap? Maybe it’s a box of Dunkin Doughnuts — perhaps you are an overeater. Maybe it’s the letters S*A*L*E — perhaps you’re an overspender. Maybe it’s an adult site on the Internet — perhaps you’ve got a compulsion for porn. Could it be your compulsion is alcohol or drugs or gambling or gossiping or griping or incessant social media consumption? Maybe it’s the joy of passing judgment on other cheese-eaters, which, reveals your battle with a critical spirit.
Each of us has an area where we do what we shouldn’t and don’t do what we should. As Paul might say, “What a sicko I am! Who will rescue me from the cheese?”
Jesus will! That’s also what Paul said in Romans 7:25, “Thanks be to God — it’s through Jesus Christ our Lord!” When Jesus died, he broke the power of sin, so it no longer has a hold on us. Through the power of the resurrection, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God has provided a way out from under every temptation:
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.
Did you catch that? Your battle with temptation is winnable. The last part of the verse says, “But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out.”
That’s good news. There’s always an escape route — always. When you’re tempted, God himself will provide a way out; he will make a way. God has provided a door — but I must look for it and walk through it!
What are those escape routes?
One way of escape is to immerse yourself in Scripture. Psalm 119:9 & 11 says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word…I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
That’s how Jesus battled temptation in the wilderness. Every time the tempter came at him with something that would tear him away from his Father, Jesus came back at Satan with the truth of scripture. There is no more potent weapon against temptation in your life than in reading God’s Word systematically, meditating on it daily, and memorizing it strategically.
Another escape route from temptation is to become accountable to another believer, especially for your particular weakness. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” We need to bring our temptation into the light of accountability to other people—as difficult as that may be.
Proverbs 27:5-6 says, “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” You would do yourself a huge favor by finding someone with whom you can be accountable for your weakness?
And yet another way out is to ask God to deliver you daily from the tempter. Jesus taught us to pray a daily prayer that acknowledges both our weakness and our need for divine power in this area: “Deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13) As simple as that seems, the amazing thing is, God hears those prayers. And he provides a way out.
Who will rescue you from this body of death? Who is going to keep you away from the Dunkin Doughnuts?
Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me. (Rom 7:25)
Sorry to have to be the one to break it to you like this, but those “sinners” are waiting for you as you head out the door to wherever your glorious journey will take you today—to work, to school, to play, or even staying indoors to serve God in the daily routine required by your assignment at home. Here’s the thing: You’ve got to be alert to them, be discerning to their sugar-coated manipulations, and ready to give them a throaty “no way” when they ply you with their counterfeit divines.