"But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it." I Corinthians 10:13

As I was reading First Corinthians I decided to do a little historical research to learn more about the setting for Paul's letter to the church in Corinth. The city of Corinth is said to have housed somewhere around a half million people. It was famous for its focus on luxury, wealth and immorality. One temple was said to house 1,000 prostitutes! I took this number of prostitutes as a percentage of the total population (.2%) and multiplied it by the number of people living in the greater St. Louis area (2.8 million). The result was 5,600. If one pimp handled all these prostitutes it would make him the twelfth largest employer in St. Louis! Extrapolated across the population of the entire United States, the result was 600,000 prostitutes. This would make my theoretical pimp the world's second largest employer behind Wal-Mart.

Of course, the point of my exploration into Corinth's history was to provide a context for Paul's letter, not to count hookers. The city of Corinth was so famous for its immoral behaviour that it was popular to describe prostitutes across Rome as "Corinthian girls". The city center was a hotbed of night clubs and drinking establishments (33 at last count). As a major commercial center people and goods from all over Rome came through Corinth, and the people were expected to be shown a good time. The Christian church in Corinth was struggling to maintain its identity in this mess.

It is a common thing in human history for each generation to feel that the challenges it faces have never been experienced to the same degree at any time in the past. The current level of immorality in the United States appears to be at an all-time high, and sometimes it seems to be an impossible task for the Church to maintain its integrity. It seems as though its getting harder and harder for strong Christian families to retain their Christian identity. The book of First Corinthians provides some simple solutions to this problem, specifically in regards to sexual immorality (which unfortunately is on the rise during our current technological explosion).

Paul's first instruction was to "run away" from sexual sin (I Cor 6:18). This is the simplest solution, and many times is the most effective when confronted with the opportunity to sin. Unfortunately, we can't run from our own desires.

A possible solution for dealing with internal desires is found in chapter 7: "... because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband." Sex within the context of marriage is a good thing! If a person finds themselves burning with sexual desire then finding a spouse (and sticking with it) is a practical solution.

Another solution is to realize the importance of our physical body: "Or don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself." (I Cor 6:19) Acknowledging that God is the ultimate owner of our body, and looking at our lives from the perspective as stewards vs. owners can help us deal with temptations. We are much less likely to risk something that is not ours, but that belongs to a very powerful person.

We must also be confident that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond anything we can bear. God has given us the strength to overcome temptation. We have to believe it is true!

It's funny (funny weird, not funny ha!) that the emphasis of our current society is on breaking down the sanctity of marriage and on the perfection/distortion of the human body. Satan recognizes the importance of marriage as a tool to combat sexual sin. Also, placing so much importance on personal appearance adds to the perception of "ownership" of our own bodies--the more we focus on our physical appearance and spend time and money on perfecting it, the more we come to think of our bodies as "our own."

God help me to realize that my body is not my own. Help me to flee from sin. Give me the strength to be a good husband. Help me to push down the pride that so easily comes to me.