Take the Exit.

1 Corinthians 10:13
13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. 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 stand up under it.

You know what's funny? When you go to a theme park and you are waiting in line for sometimes as much as an hour or two to go on your favorite ride. I'm not going to lie I like roller coasters. It's exciting and the whole experience of hearing others scream and just realizing that I'll be upside down gets my adrenaline going. If you spend the entire time in line nervous though, you become more and more scared.

Did you ever notice at the end of the line there's a gate with a quick exit in case someone is so scared they're pulling their hair out? Of course at this point you're so close, but you take the exit because you're so scared; you back out and turn away.

Fortunately, this is a hopeful message to end a busy week, full of work and temptations. When we're tempted by Satan, God provides us a safe way to exit. It's a different kind of exit because you don't have to be ashamed that you're backing away from sin, unlike if you escape from a huge roller coaster. Nonetheless, when we're going to sin, sometimes we play out the situation in our head and we wait until the time is right. God's exit is there just before you make your final decision to hop on the ride. See it as a gift so that you don't have to face eternal consequences of sin. Be thankful! It's time to swallow your pride and take that "exit" off the ride of temptation which isn't worth it's huge cost.

Think about a time where God unexpectedly offered you a way out of your temptation. Notice that God promises that you will never face a temptation greater than you are in his name. Have the faith to make that quick exit when you see it. Lord, Thanks for rescuing us from sin and please help those who are still waiting in line about to be tempted.

Take a look at this "Temptation" message by Francis Chan. It's about 8 1/2 minutes long, but I promise you it's worth watching. I listened to Francis Chan at a conference in Washington D.C. last summer and he is a great speaker. You learn so much from him. This video is a nice recap on the week and he mentions some of the same things I discussed about temptation this week, especially about blaming others and how it looks attractive.



P.S. If you have trouble with the video stopping and starting, keep the video paused, and let it "buffer" (load) as it's called for a while. You will see the red bar along the bottom advance (speed depends on your Internet connection). Wait until that bar gets pretty far along (I'd say more than halfway) before you play the video and it shouldn't pause.