No Forwarding Address

By Greg Laurie, Op-ed contributor Wednesday, January 18, 2006

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. —1 Corinthians 10:13

Have you ever tried to eat just one potato chip? How about just one fresh-baked cookie or just one warm, glazed doughnut? It's hard to stop. Almost impossible, in fact. That is how temptation to sin is. It just grabs us.

When we pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," we are saying, "Lord, I know my own sinful vulnerabilities, and I ask You to keep me from the power of sin. Help me to make the right choices and avoid anything that would pull me away from You."

The classic hymn, "Come Thou Fount," says it so accurately: "Prone to wander—Lord, I feel it—Prone to leave the God I love. . . ." It is our nature as sheep to wander, to go astray, and to do the wrong thing. It is not our nature to do the right thing. We must remember that about ourselves.

As one writer said, "When we pray. 'Lead us not into temptation,' it is an appeal to God to put a watch over our eyes, our ears, our mouths, and our feet and our hands, that in whatever we see, hear, or say, or any place we go, and in anything we do, He will protect us from sin."

We can lay claim to the great promise that God will not allow us to be tempted above that which we are able, but will make a way of escape so we can bear it.

Remember, flee from temptation—and don't leave a forwarding address.

Used with Permission