Exit Strategy

Exit Strategy

By Dr David Jeremiah 


No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; 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

Recommended Reading James 1:13-15

Someone who sins may say, “God promises to provide a way of escape when we are tempted, but I never saw it!” That’s right—God does promise a way of escape from sin. But the apostle Paul doesn’t define the exit strategy.
Or perhaps he does. First Corinthians 10:13 comes at the end of Paul’s account of  how Israel yielded to the temptation of idolatry and sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 10:6-10). He then warns the Corinthians not to fall in the same way. Immediately after saying God will provide a way of escape, Paul writes, “Flee from idolatry” (verse 14). Therein lies the common denominator for escaping temptation. When all else fails, when no other escape route is evident, . . . flee! Do whatever you have to do to exit the circumstance you are in and prevent falling into sin. Paul recommended this strategy on more than one occasion (1 Corinthians 6:18; 1 Timothy 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:22).

You can’t fall into a sin from which you have fled.

You can’t keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building a nest in your hair. 
Martin Luther