Temptations and Consequences

1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT  The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

Enabling is anything that stands in the way of or softens the natural consequences of a person's behavior.

God does not want us to enable others in their wrongdoing. Neither does he enable us when we choose to walk in disobedience to him. He loves us too much to enable us in our wrongdoing. He knows that we will not come to our senses and change our ways unless he allows us to suffer the natural consequences of what we do.

As a parent, our instinct is to jump in and rescue our kids from the consequences of their mistakes. We stay up late ‘helping’ with class projects, spend money we do not have to spend to replace lost coats or eyeglasses, and make extra trips to school to deliver things they forgot at home. In the big picture of life, we are not saving them from the wrath of their teacher or from getting a bad grade for being unprepared as much as we are teaching them they can be unorganized, forgetful, irresponsible and others will jump in pay the price for them. A couple of zeros for homework not turned is a small price to pay for learning the life lesson that you have to take care of your own responsibilities. The world will not cater to them as we do and we set them up for bitter disappointment by laying a foundation of enabling. Is forgetting homework a sin? Of course not. It is the pattern of ‘mess up and rescue’ that is wrong.

It is painful to see someone you care about suffering the consequences of their behaviors and choices. Perhaps our need to jump in and rescue is to stop our own pain as much as it is to stop theirs. Some tend to feel a sense of ‘sacrificial giving’; others have a ‘white knight syndrome’ and ride in to the rescue. God does neither of those. As our Father, He mourns and hurts when we suffer the consequences of our actions and choices, too, but He does not step in and make them go away.  

The scripture above says The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. The great news here that He has provided a way out of every temptation so we do not have to fall into it in the first place. However, when we do fall and give in to temptations, though He will not remove the natural consequences, just like the father of the prodigal son, our heavenly Father loves us and watches for us to come home. He will run out to meet us, showering his love, mercy and forgiveness on us when we return.

Perhaps you have been locked into a downward spiral and feel as though there is no way out. God always provides a way. He is just waiting for you to come to him with a repentant heart. His arms are open wide … no matter what you have done. Jesus has already paid the price for your sin. Receive his forgiveness. He loves you unconditionally and is waiting to help you. Forgiveness and enabling are not the same thing. One is healing, the other debilitating.