You've been enlisted as an agent!
You are a morally responsible agent.
No, you haven’t been given a job in the government.
You’ve been given a role by God as a person capable and responsible for making decisions about your life.
Before you dismiss what I’m saying as obvious, hear me out.
I encounter a decent number of people facing challenging circumstances and a decent number of others being tempted by sin.
Many people find themselves between a rock and a hard place in life.
Sin lies to them in these tough moments and sometimes the only path forward they see involves disobedience to God.
You might hear something like, “I can’t go on living like this. I’ll never be happy unless I get out of this toxic marriage and start over.”
Or perhaps, “If [this challenge] were not in my way I would be able to obey [this command from God].”
Deceived people place maximum emphasis on the challenge of their circumstances.
Sin tells them a story that is centered on them and exaggerates their “unique” situation.
In a post-modern culture that downplays objective truth and emphasizes narrative– there is always a reason to “understand” sinful choices as part of your story.
Sin wants you to throw your hands up and passively float downstream following the current of this world to the waterfall of condemnation.
The Scripture, on the other hand, tells a story that centers on God and emphasizes our struggles as common.
It is important for your perseverance to recognize your struggles may be personal, but they are not peculiar.
You face dilemmas of faith that are par for the course of humanity.
In fact, the Old Testament is full of people like you who went through challenges like yours so that you could watch, learn, and persevere.
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 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 10:11–13
When you face a trial or a temptation remind yourself, “People have walked through these waters before.”
God is faithful and He will not let your temptation go beyond the strength He supplies. He will provide a path out for those who trust Him.
When you are facing temptation and trial remember how normal this has been for those who trust in God.
Instead of focusing on how uniquely hard your situation is, remind yourself how common trials are and how faithful God has been and will be.