“…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, NIV).

His chronic problems were stable, so he had time to share his story. “When I was in Vietnam with the sounds of bullets and bombs all around me, and all the casualties, I said to God, ‘If you get me back home, I will live for you.’ When I got back to the states, I stayed with my wild-living brothers and forgot my promise. A year later, I was going to travel back to California for another good time with those brothers when my pastor brother from St. Louis, Missouri contacted me and told me to come visit him instead. I didn’t want to go, but I did, and with him, I remembered my promise to God. I began reading my Bible and going to church and have been following Christ ever since.”

God doesn’t give up on us when we fail to follow through.

Paul, in his letter to the churches in Galatia, describes the difficulty Christians face when walking through life with our natural self (the flesh) competing with God’s Spirit for our focus: “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other…” (Galatians 5:17, NIV).

Along with Paul, every day I feel the pull of my natural self away from the path that follows Christ. I am not struggling alone, though.

Just as my patient above experienced, when my natural self pulls me away from God, His Spirit finds a way to set me back on the right path. Time and time again, I watch God’s Spirit draw me back to Him, away from envy, pride, greed resentment, lust, etc., when by my own strength I would fail.

In God’s promise of deliverance for the people of Israel, He offers the same promise to us: “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you…And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes…” (Ezekiel 36:26-27, ESV).

All of us will stray, and God’s Spirit will always pull us home.

Having said this, it is best to avoid impeding God in His work of deliverance.

Do I spend time every day in His Word? Am I directionally motivated to “faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6, NIV), so the inertia of that movement will keep me from sinful distraction? Do I have brothers or sisters in Christ, like my patient above, who can hold me accountable?

Arthur Hugh Clough wrote this poem:

“It fortifies my soul to know

That, though I perish, Truth is so:

That, howsoe’er I stray and range,

Whate’er I do, Thou dost not change.

I steadier step when I recall

That, if I slip, Thou dost not fall.”

Dear Father,

Continue to draw me away from my natural self, even if it hurts.

Amen