One of my biggest fears is to get bitten by a dog. That is why whenever I visit someone else’s house, walk past a dog in the street or at the mall, I get so nervous even if the dog is not barking at me. People tell me that I could just walk calmly past it, owners tell me their dogs are nice and do not bite, but still my heart pounds. I scour the Internet, and it tells me one of the ways to overcome this fear is exposure therapy. The article explains, the exposure is meant to desensitize the fearful person from what he is scared of, and eventually get over it.
And indeed exposure can help desensitize a person. For this reason, we followers of Jesus are being commanded to remove ourselves from situations that will tempt us into sinning. The more we reduce our exposure to such situations, the better our chances of staying right with God. The higher our exposure to temptation, the higher the possibility that we could give in to it.
“So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” 2 Timothy 2:22
The Bible tells us that if we find ourselves in a situation where it seems like there is no other recourse but to give in to sin, we should not give up exploring all avenues to get out of the situation and flee. And there will always be that avenue we can go to get away from it, because as Christians, our Lord has promised a way out for us
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13
And let us make no mistake, this kind of “fleeing” from sin is literal. So once we spot the way out we run away. We run towards the other direction, far, far, away from what will cause us to stumble. We should also try our best to run alongside people who are also pursuing righteousness.
A bible character that showed us that fleeing from temptation is possible is Joseph — one of the sons of Jacob. As one of the trusted men of an Egyptian Official, he became the head of the official’s household. The wife of his boss however tried to seduce Joseph. In one of her many attempts to get him to sleep with her, she got hold of him by his garments, but Joseph resisted and fled the place.
“She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home.Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.” Genesis 39:16-20
Even though the above scene led Him to get imprisoned, God remained pleased with Joseph, as we can read here:
“But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.” Genesis 39:20-23
And so if we will think about what happened to Joseph, we can deduce that God sees our effort to please Him and stay righteous and obedient. When we stay faithful to God’s commands and refuse to give in to impurity, indulgence, and idolatry, He will reward us with His presence and guidance in our lives. He will protect us, and move others to be helpful to us. God will even establish us and bless the work of our hands. More importantly He will use us for His good purpose.
“The Lord rewards everyone for their righteousness and faithfulness. The Lord delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. As surely as I valued your life today, so may the Lord value my life and deliver me from all trouble.” 1 Samuel 26:23-24
And while there are sins that are a bit easy to avoid, each person has a weak point that the enemy may target to tempt them to sin. This may include sins such as gossiping, over indulgence that leads to binge eating and shopping our way to debt, laziness, covetousness due to habitual doom scrolling, verbally abusing people during stressful situations, getting into immoral behavior, addiction to substance, pornography, or too much entertainment.
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” James 1:12
When faced with seemingly harmless situations that could lead to sinning, we should muster our energy to stand up, ask for help from Jesus, and find something else to do in a totally different environment. He promises to help us.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross,scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2
Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to ponder on Genesis 39:1-23 and Hebrews 12:1-11 to dig deeper on today’s topic.
Reflection Question: How do you try to resist temptation?
Conversation with the Lord: Heavenly Father, thank you for promising to help us flee from temptations that could lead us to commit sins and be away from your presence. Grant me the strength to remain faithful to you my Lord. Amen.
