| The Building of Character |
Chapter 11 |
Page 2 |
This lesson applies to temptation. Not one of us can miss temptation, but we need never fail nor fall in it. Never yet was a child of God in any terrible conflict with the Evil One in which it was not possible for him to overcome. There is a wonderful word in one of St. Paul’s Epistles which we should write in letters of gold on our chamber walls: “There hath not temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way for escape, that ye may be able to endure it.”
These are sublime assurances. Not one need ever say, “I cannot endure this temptation, and must yield and fall.” This is never true. We need never fail. Christ met the sorest temptations, but he was always victorious; and now this tried and all-conquering Christ is by our side as we meet and endure our temptations, and we cannot fail when he is with us. It is possible, too, for us so the meet temptations as to change them into blessings. A conquered sin becomes a new strength in our life. We are stronger because every conquest gives us a new spirit of life; the strength we have defeated becomes now part of our own power.
Page 2