Tempted and Tested

Stanley loves the freedom and flexibility that his job as a private-hire driver gives him. Among other things, he can start and stop work anytime, and he doesn’t have to account for his time and movements to anyone. Yet, he said, that’s ironically the hardest part.

“In this job, it’s so easy to start an extramarital affair,” he admitted frankly. “I pick up all sorts of passengers, yet no one, including my wife, knows where I am each day.” It’s not an easy temptation to resist, and many of his fellow drivers have given in to it, he explained. “What stops me is considering what God would think, and how my wife would feel,” he said. Our God, who created each one of us, knows our weaknesses, desires and how easily we’re tempted. But as 1 Corinthians 10:11-13 reminds us, we can ask Him for help. “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear,” Paul says. “When you are tempted, [God] will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (v. 13). That “way out” could be a healthy fear of the consequences, a Spirit-nudged conscience, remembering Scripture, a timely distraction or something else. As we ask God for strength, the Spirit will turn our eyes from what’s tempting us and help us look towards the way out that He’s given us. Leslie Koh - Daily Bread