4 Truthful Realities That Will Help Us Overcome Temptation

Do you ever find yourself wishing all temptations would just come to an end? Maybe sin would be a little easier to ignore if not for the temptation to give in to it. Sin and temptation go hand-in-hand. Temptation without the accompanying sin has no allure.

Satan creates doubt

When Satan approached Adam and Eve in the garden, he placed doubt. He questioned whether God had indeed told the truth. Was God holding out on Adam and Eve? Was there something better to be had as a result of eating from the Tree of Knowledge? The answer, as Adam and Eve found out, was “no.” It’s a lesson each and every one of their descendants has learned.

Temptation always offers the promise of something better, but it turns into a bitter pill. Alex Himaya writes, “Wouldn’t life be easier if temptations came with warning labels? Sin promises great things up front, but it’s only after we give in that we learn about the consequences.”¹

God is faithful

The Holy Spirit spoke through the Apostle Paul on overcoming temptation. Writing to the troubled church at Corinth, Paul encouraged, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it.”²

There are four truthful realities that will help us overcome temptation.

1. Whatever temptation we face is common to every other believer.

While it may feel at times we are being tempted in a way no one else ever has, scripture is clear. We face what everyone else faces, and everyone else faces what we face. Remembering that our temptation has been overcome by others helps us overcome.

2. God is faithful.

This alone is a startlingly helpful truth. God is not absent. God is not indifferent. God is faithful. God’s faithfulness means He is always aware and He is always able to empower us overcome.

3. God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to resist.

This is a great comfort and a promise we must take on faith. Think about this: you have never been tempted beyond your ability to resist it. What an encouragement to know that God protects us in this way. He has laid down a boundary beyond which temptation cannot go. When tempted, no matter how strong or seemingly insurmountable, we can always resist it in God’s strength.

4. God will provide a way of escape to every temptation we face.

Part of the strategy of overcoming temptation is to look for the way of escape. Is it phoning a friend to ask for a ride out of a bad situation? It is simply walking away? It is dropping to our knees–literally–in prayer? Is it a greater commitment to memorizing scripture? Looking for and taking the way out is a path of overcoming.

Temptation is part of our walk in Christ, but so is overcoming it. God does not intend for us to succumb; He intends for us to overcome, and by His grace we can do so.

Yours for the Great Commission,

Ronnie W. Floyd

Senior Pastor, Cross Church
General Editor, Bible Studies for Life
President, Southern Baptist Convention

¹– Bible Studies for Life, Overcome, by Alex Himaya
²– 1 Corinthians 10:13, HCSB