There is a particular area of my life that is very sinful, but it only surfaces infrequently. Because it appeared to be a "sporadic" sin, it seemed really difficult to conquer. "How will I be able to measure progress if I don't face it regularly?" I would say. "Surely I can't demonstrate that I've made any progress in this area if I only occasionally face it."
I thought I had to "grow" enough so I could get to the point where I was able to look temptation in the eye and say, "Not this time! I refuse because I have been redeemed!" Why should I flee from temptation and sin anyways? Doesn't that just mean I haven't been changed enough to overcome the temptation? That I haven't truly encountered Jesus or fully come into the power of the cross in that particular area of my life. Surely it means that I'm not strong enough to face the tough stuff. And definitely not strong enough to fight it. Those are the things I should ultimately be able to do, right? Face temptation. Fight temptation. Surely those are my marching orders. Fleeing is for the weak, those who haven't grown enough to endure through the temptation.
How wrong was I?!
This is not what I found in Scripture. In Scripture, I see orders to get as far away from temptation as possible. It is plastered all over the New Testament:
- Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sings against his own body. I Corinthians 6:18
- Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I Corinthians 10:14
- But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. I Timothy 6:11
- Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. II Timothy 2:22
From these passages, fleeing from temptation and sin does not seem like a sign of weakness. In fact, it is pictured as quite the opposite.
Mature, humble men flee.
In I Corinthians 10:13, Paul instructs the believers, "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it." At first glance, the phrases "beyond what you are able" and "able to endure it" seem to point to a facing and fighting of temptation and sin. However, Paul is very clear about the method of enduring. We are able to endure by escaping! Paul does not say, "but with temptation, God will provide a strength that you've never had before in that area that will allow you to stand toe-to-toe with the temptation and say no, so that you will be able to endure it." No! God provides a way of escape so that I may flee!
Fleeing is a glorious and wonderful thing. Joseph provides us with a great example of it when Potiphar's wife tries to seduce him (Genesis 39:12). It did not matter how "strong" or "resolute" he was, Joseph understood that his heart was wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), and that there is no man who does good and does not sin (Romans 3:10-11).
At the end of the day, the only question is "Did I endure temptation without sin?" The only answer that matters is "No." And God says getting to that answer of "No" through fleeing as He provided for is exactly what He wants. And its so much easier than trying to say "No" through facing and fighting. Why would I risk that?
There is only One Man who has faced and fought sin: Jesus Himself. That's why Jesus' encounter with Satan in Matthew 4 is so incredible. He did not flee, but He faced and fought temptation, and did not sin! "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). And that was just in His life.
In His death, Jesus once and for all faced and fought the Tempter and sin itself, rendering it powerless. Jesus has already done these things. He has faced sin, fought it, and destroyed it! So I am free to flee!!
So yes, fleeing is for the weak: the weak, hopeless sinner that I am. I'll leave the facing and fighting to my Strong King of Kings, and I will choose to flee for refuge.
In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 6:17-20
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