Escape Routes

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

A few years ago I did what’s called a “Whole 30.” It’s a 30-day diet plan that completely restricts a lot of delicious food categories like grains, sugar, dairy, processed foods, and artificial sweeteners, but allows complete freedom with “whole foods” like vegetables and unprocessed meats. After thirty days you slowly re-introduce non-whole-30 foods, which helps you determine which foods are problematic for your body. It’s a really neat experiment, you can eat very well on it, but it does require discipline. The instructions are clear that you cannot violate any rule at any time and really claim to have done a Whole 30.

I would say that to complete a Whole 30 requires total commitment. For most of us, it’s not the kind of thing where you can say, “Well, I’ll give it a try and see how it goes,” and expect success. If you give yourself an out, you’ll probably take it.

Paul said in First Corinthians 10:13 that with every temptation, God will “make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” God offers a path away from sin. But sometimes we try to make our own ways of escape toward the temptation. We set parameters ahead of time as an escape route in case the thing turns out to be just too difficult.

Like a metaphorical prenuptial agreement. Or a literal one.

If we leave ourselves an “out,” we usually take it.

Escape routes are important when there’s danger. The problem is we’re always trying to escape the wrong things. We want to escape responsibility and suffering, death and judgment, but that is not possible. We ought to be concerned with escaping the devil’s snare (2 Timothy 2:26), for that is God’s concern. It is not possible to escape temptation, but it is possible to resist it.

What does an escape route from temptation look like? I think many times it comes in some form of reminder about the consequences. Sometimes it’s enough just to think about how a sin could hurt us or others in the end.

The temptation to commit fornication might lead to the thought of unwanted pregnancy. In a case like that, unmarried people sometimes cover up the escape route sign by keeping contraception readily available. There are some natural breaks on sin, but what good are they if we plan ways around them ahead of time? If we give ourselves an out, we’ll probably take it.

An escape sign may also take the form of a friend who warns us, or even an opportunity that God puts in our path, a divine diversion meant to re-route us. Have you ever prayed for God to show you a sign, and then when He sent one, asked for a different sign instead?

As my jail ministry partner often points out in our studies there, God provides an escape, but if you pass it on by, there does come a point of no return, a point when you’ve ignored or rejected the escape route and you sin. When that has happened she encourages people to look back and try to pinpoint in retrospect that moment when an escape was possible. At least we can learn from our mistakes in that way.

Sometimes we set goals and fail. Maybe you’ve tried a Whole 30 and didn’t make it. That’s ok. Not everything in life is a moral issue. And sometimes it is wiser not to commit. The Bible has a few examples of vows made rashly, and says it is “better not to vow than to vow and not pay.” (Ecclesiastes 5:5.) Still, if a goal is really important to you, making a total commitment might be needful.

Of course God is looking for total commitment.

“When people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before.” 2 Peter 2:20 NLT

Rather than leaving ourselves an “out” for when it gets difficult to do the right thing, let’s fully commit to fleeing sin by using the escape routes that God provides.

Dear Heavenly Father,
I’m so easily drawn away from You by selfish desires and short-term pleasures. In those moments of temptation I pray Your Holy Spirit would remind me of my commitment to live for Christ, and of what he willingly endured for me on the cross, even though he could have escaped that undeserved fate by calling ten legions of angels. I thank You for all the ways You provide for me to escape the snare of the devil. Please forgive me for the times I’ve ignored Your help.
In Jesus’s precious name, Amen.

by Christie Cole Atkins