Devotion for March 1, 2016

Tuesday: So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 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 10:12-13; NIV).

            It seems we’re trained from early on to rely on our own strength: do for yourself and stand on your own two feet are lessons that we learn young. On the one hand, independence and reliance are certainly virtues to be cultivated, especially if the alternatives are dependency and lack of effort. On the other hand, the presumption of strength can be a real problem, too. You can imagine any number of situations in which a person convinces himself that he’s strong enough to handle something himself, only to find out that he’s overwhelmed by the task. So often, if we just asked for a little help, the challenges of life would not be so daunting.

            The same thing can happen in our spiritual lives. I like to explain the 6^th Petition, “Lead us not into temptation,” as a prayer that we not stupidly overestimate our own strength. There are so many situations we know are not going to be good for us spiritually: we know that there are acquaintances who will tempt us to behave poorly; we know there are places we shouldn’t be. (An alcoholic knows a bar is no place for him; a problem gambler avoids the casino.) But we judge ourselves ‘strong enough.’ May I suggest that we learn to value our own weakness? That we learn where we will surely fail and learn in those moments to rely on Christ and His work for us.