The Bible says that God will always provide a way out when you’re feeling tempted to sin. “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. 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 endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) It’s easy to find comfort in this passage when you’re free from temptation. But when you’re in the moment, it seems far from true. When you’re faced with temptation, it all seems so easy, harmless and right.
Even if it feels like it’s worth giving into the temptation, we must cling to the truth that God provides. Not just because it’s in scripture and it’s what He asks of us, but because it’s how He made us.
Analyzing Our Brain
God made our brains to process each moment. This allows us to slow down, giving us time to evaluate the situation so we can remain safe, guarded and cared for. It seems like our brain processes information instantly, but it actually takes time. Our brain needs time to analyze what’s going on, react and tell the body how to respond. It seems like this all happens instantaneously, but it doesn’t. Therefore we need to give the brain time to do its job. We need to give our brain the opportunity to follow God’s leading, not our own.
We can’t rely on our initial instinct or emotions because that’s not allowing our brain to see the the full picture. We have to let our brain process the entire scenario, and analyze it according to who we are, not just what we’re doing in the moment. If we’re in a safe situation, it’s important to take a moment to let our body absorb our surroundings. It’s especially important to do this when we’re facing temptation, or new feelings and situations. We have to give our brain the time to remember that we are a child of God. We have to allow our brain to process our desire for righteousness. If our greatest hope is to follow God, serve, honor and please Him, then we have to let our brain factor that information into our current scenario, especially when faced with temptation. We’re Christ followers, and with that comes certain guidelines set in place for our pleasure and protection, so we have to let our brain understand each moment in relation to our life as a whole so we can realize how God will pull us out of negative circumstances.
Repeat Transactions
As your brain begins to experience the same situations over and over again, it will wire that transaction as a habit. By doing this, the brain creates a “shortcut” so the action can occur faster. We don’t want to make habits out of situations that cause us to sin. Nor do we want to create habits out of situations where we are tempted to sin. Therefore, it’s imperative to practice analyzing these scenarios when we’re faced with temptation. We don’t want to jump into a situation based on our feelings or instant desires. By doing so, we could be placing ourselves in situations where we don’t even realize we’re being tempted because we simply act out of habit, or we attempt to justify the habitual sin.
Our brain acts as fast as it can to process information. As it experiences repeat activity, it will anticipate what’s coming next. The brain becomes rather good at guessing. It will assume each new moment is going to be pretty much like the last one. If we’re falling into temptation every time we face it, then our brain will wire itself to follow that sinful path. But, if we’re diligently waiting and evaluating what’s going on when we’re faced with temptation, then we’ll wire our brain to look for a way out, to turn to God, to analyze the situation. This is a lot of hard work. It’s training the brain to go against what it wants to do, but it IS training the brain to do what it was designed to do.
We can rewire the brain in helpful ways. This gives us the inner poise of the Spirit to not be overcome by a sudden temptation. Our current reactions are rarely just a “choice.” Our choices come from who we have become deep within, all the way back to our childhood. Practicing spiritual disciplines faithfully (reading and studying God’s Word, Scripture memorization, prayer, journaling, building community with fellow Christians, taking moments of silence to listen for God’s voice, etc) are ways we can reprogram our mind. To overcome temptation, it’s important we train our brain to learn how to walk in the Spirit.
So not only does this scripture in Corinthians tell us that God will provide a way out because that’s His character. It says that because it’s ours too. He created us to take a pause and to look to Him in the moment. There is no denying that this is hard, but sometimes knowing the truth makes things a little more applicable.
The brain will predict that whatever it knew to be true about the world a moment ago will continue to be true. God is truth, He always will be. Don’t fall into the ease of temptation by denying your brain the truth it needs to pursue God’s intentions and desires for your life.
