The Way Out

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.

1 Corinthians 10:13

Corn mazes are popular destinations in the fall. These mazes are paths that are cut through cornfields. If you saw them from above, they would sometimes have fun designs or shapes, and they might look like the mazes printed in a puzzle book. For a corn maze, you enter the maze and have to find the right path out. Sometimes that can be tricky or confusing. You can make wrong turns and hit dead ends or walk in circles without knowing it. The same is true when you face temptation. It may be tricky or confusing to find a way out of the temptation and avoid sinning. Thankfully, you have God to guide you through a temptation maze.

God knows his princesses face temptations every day. People have faced temptations since the beginning of the world. A serpent tempted Adam and Eve to disobey and break God’s rule for them to not eat the forbidden fruit. Your temptation may be to break God’s rules by looking at things on the Internet that don’t honor him. Or disobeying your mom or dad by texting a friend when you are supposed to be doing homework.

Because your heavenly King doesn’t want you to give in to the urge to do wrong, he’s given you escape routes. You might need to leave a friend’s house and go home if she wants to watch a movie you know you shouldn’t watch. Or maybe you’ll have to find someone different to sit with at lunch if your friends are making fun of other kids in the cafeteria. You might need to turn off the TV or computer if something that dishonors God flashes across the screen. There is always an escape, a way to avoid giving in to temptation, but you have to be willing to take that way out even though it might not always be easy.

When you are tempted, ask God to show you the way out of the temptation maze . . . and get out of there.

Make a list of five things you can do when you are tempted. Include people you might be able to talk to and things you can do to avoid sinning.