Have you ever seen a movie, show, or perhaps real life example of someone being held back by their friends, while desperately trying to get to something or someone? Perhaps the person is trying to attack an enemy, or grab something they desire. Have you ever seen something like this, but the person was asking their friends to hold them back? Much like Timon and Pumbaa from the Lion King. In a case like this, the person doesn’t really want to move forward, but they want to try. It can be humorous enough to see. Thinking about it, I believe we tend to do something similar when it comes to our sin.

One thing I’ve been so guilty of at times in my life is expecting God to do all the work in resisting sin for me. Similar to that hold back maneuver, I ask God to embrace me, hold me close, and not let go while I’m trying to reach for temptation. I think this sounds pretty good to many of us. We get to reach for what we sinfully want, while theoretically someone else is responsible for keeping us on the right path. If we fail, it wasn’t our fault, right?

Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. The bible is pretty clear on that.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV) – 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.

This is a passage that at first glance, feels like it takes a weight off of us. “God will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” Cool, so God’s doing the work, right? Well, not all of it. As it also says, “when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” The bible doesn’t say “he will hold you back from sinning”, it says “he will provide a way out”. God isn’t barricading us inside a cell of godliness, he’s offering us a path out of bad circumstances. This is an important distinction. God isn’t going to force us not to sin, even if we ask him to. He gave us free will for a reason. He desires a genuine relationship with us, one where we pursue him gladly and of our own decision. He’s happy to make it easier on us in some ways, but we still have to be willing to work toward it.

The enemy is going to try to deceive us, to tell us that we don’t have to pursue God that hard, that he’ll do it all for us. Please, don’t fall prey to that lie. A relationship with God means pursuit on both sides, from God and us.

Dear Father God, thank you for the person reading this right now. Please strengthen them through the trials they face. Help them to discern your truth from the enemy’s lies. Move in their heart to actively and passionately seek after you. I pray that we wouldn’t fall victim to false belief, that we wouldn’t try to pawn off responsibility for our actions. And Lord I thank you for what you did on the cross, that no matter how broken we are, or how many times we’ve failed, we can still begin pursuing you today. Thanks to you we know that tomorrow may be too late, but today never is. Amen.