Common
Common To Man
1CO 10:11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment 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 seized you except what is common to man. 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 stand up under it.
I remember walking in the woods at times thinking that I was in a place where no one else had ever been before. The moral of the story ‑ There is nowhere in the woods that you can go
where someone who drinks beer has not been.
We share many things in common for instance. I was named after Abraham Lincoln.
Not everything translates easily however. What fits in one situation may not work in another. Chinaman who purchased an orange store.
1. No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.
v We seem to want to believe at times that no one else in the world has had to face the circumstances that we face.
v If we allow ourselves to believe that my difficult times justify my behavior we deceive ourselves and we make it just about impossible to ever overcome our situation.
v There are people in the Bible who thought this way by times. Elijah in I Kings 19. He was a man who was convinced that he faced a unique set of circumstances. See verse 18.
v There are those who have that martyr complex even today. They belive that they are the "only ones left".
v Job was a man who faced tremendous obstacles and his gritty declaration in Job 13:15 – Though he slay me, yet will I hope in Him.
Ill. - TROUBLE TRADING POST
2. And God is faithful: he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
v II Timothy 2:11‑13 God is indeed faithful. Ill. My concept of God which was a dual minded Savior. Eph. 1:14, II Corinthians 1:22, 5:5
v God knows what you can endure. Many times in despair we offer the emotional sentiment, "I just can't take anymore." See Hebrews 11 and 12 for your encouragement.
v He will not allow temptation to pass your way which you cannot resist. Habit Track
3. he will also provide a way out. James 4:7‑10
v I don't care what you face today ladies and gentlemen, there is a way out. The Devil's lie is the very opposite. There is no way out for me ‑ no help.
v Most likely this realization is the very first step.
v The second is to begin to look for the way out and to never stop looking. There are at times deliverances that are immediate and instantaneous and other times, it takes time.
v Remember that failure is never final unless you stop trying.
! The Race
"QUIT! Give up! You're beaten!"
They shout at me and plead.
"There's just too much against you now.
This time you can't succeed!"
And as I start to hang my head
In front of failure's face,
My downward fall is broken by
The memory of a race.
And hope refills my weakened will
As I recall that scene;
For just the thought of that short race
Rejuvenates my being.
II
A children's race--young boys, young men
How I remember well.
Excitement sure! But also fear;
It wasn't hard to tell.
They all lined up so full of hope;
Each thought to win that race.
Or tie for first, or if not that,
At least take second place.
And fathers watched from off the side,
Each cheering for his son.
And each boy hoped to show his Dad
that he would be the one.
The whistle blew and off they went!
Young hearts and hopes afire.
To win and be the hero there
Was each young boy's desire.
And one boy in particular
Whose Dad was in the crowd,
Was running near the lead and thought,
"My Dad will be so proud!"
But as they speeded down the field
Across a shallow dip,
The little boy who thought to win
Lost his step and slipped.
Trying hard to catch himself
His hands flew out to brace,
And mid the laughter of the crowd
He fell flat on his face.
So down he fell and with him hope
He couldn't win it now -
Embarrassed, sad, he only wished
To disappear somehow.
But as he fell his Dad stood up
And showed his anxious face,
Which to the boy so clearly said:
"Get up and win the race."
He quickly rose, no damage done.
Behind a bit, that's all -
And ran with all his mind and might
To make up for his fall.
So anxious to restore himself
To catch up and to win -
His mind went faster than his legs;
He slipped and fell again!
He wished then he had quit before
With only one disgrace.
"I'm hopeless as a runner now;
I shouldn't try to race."
But in the laughing crowd he searched
And found his father's face.
That steady look which said again:
"Get up and win the race!"
So up he jumped to try again
Ten yards behind the last -
"If I'm to gain those yards," he thought,
"I've got to move real fast."
Exerting everything he had
He gained eight or ten
But trying so hard to catch the lead
He slipped and fell again!
Defeat! He lay there silently
A tear dropped from his eye -
"There's no sense running anymore;
Three strikes: I'm out! Why try?"
The will to rise had disappeared
All hope had fled away;
So far behind, so error prone;
A loser all the way.
"I've lost so what's the use," he thought.
"I'll live with my disgrace."
But then he thought about his Dad
Who soon he'd have to face.
"Get up," an echo sounded low.
"Get up and take your place;
You were not meant for failure here.
Get up and win the race."
"With borrowed will, get up," it said,
"You haven't lost at all,
For winning is no more than this:
To rise each time you fall."
So up he rose to run once more,
And with a new commit
He resolved that win or lose
At least he wouldn't quit.
So far behind the others now,
The most he'd ever been -
Still he gave it all he had
And ran as though to win.
Three times he'd fallen, stumbling;
Three time he rose again;
To far behind to hope to win
He still ran to the end.
They cheered the winning runner
As he crossed the line first place,
Head high, and proud, and happy;
No falling, no disgrace
But when the fallen youngster
Crossed the line last place,
The crowd gave him the greater cheer
For finishing the race.
And even though he came in last
With head bowed low, unproud,
You would have thought he'd won the race
To listen to the crowd.
And to his Dad he sadly said,
"I didn't do so well."
"To me, you won," his father said.
"You rose each time you fell."
And now when things seem dark and hard
And difficult to face,
The memory of that little boy
Helps me in my own race.
For all of life is like that race,
With ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win,
Is rise each time you fall.
"QUIT! Give up! You're beaten!"
They still shout in my face.
But another voice within me says:
"GET UP AND WIN THE RACE!"