It is nearly half past three in the morning here, but there I was in my bed reading Elisabeth Elliot’s “Passion and Purity” and this passage completely jumped out at me.
We went to Oregon’s magnificent coast for a day. We walked down through the thick fir forest to an isolated cove where we explored sea caves and swam in the frigid Pacific. We built a driftwood fire. Sitting close together, watching the sun sink into the gleaming sea, the temptation to express ourselves, to do what we felt like doing, was nearly overwhelming. Because the final choice had been made long before, by the grace of God we were not overwhelmed.
I write this for one reason. To show that it is possible for two young people, full of all the juices that youth is endowed with by the Creator, to resist temptation.
They can’t do it unless they have a motive that makes it worthwhile.
They can’t do it alone.
“If you feel sure that you are standing firm, beware! You may fall. So far you have faced no trail beyond what man can bear. God keeps faith, and he will not allow you to be tested above your powers, but when the test comes he will at the same time provide a way out, by enabling you to sustain it.”
He enabled us.
A word of warning here. It is not a good idea to go into caves or to sit by driftwood fires in lonely places if you are not yet sure of your God. Paul advised the young Timothy to “turn from the wayward impulses of youth