“So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! …God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” (1 Corinthians 10:12-13)

The law of non-contradiction states that two contradictory statements cannot both be true in the same sense at the same time. For example, you can’t say, “A is B and A is not B.” It’s a logical contradiction.

But what about these verses? God says both that we can fall and that God is faithful and He won’t let us be tempted beyond what we can bear. God teaches elsewhere very clearly that we can fall from faith and lose eternal salvation. God also teaches very clearly that He is faithful and He will preserve us in the faith to the end.

That’s clearly not a contradiction to God, it is a contradiction to our minds, but it’s exactly what our contradictory hearts need to hear. You see, if I’m presumptuous and overconfident in myself and my own abilities, if I think, “I’m good, I’m fine on my own, I could never fall into this sin or that sin,” if I think that, I need to hear from God: Be careful that you don’t fall! I can fall away from faith, I can lose my eternal salvation.

But when I’m terrified by my sinfulness, when I realize I’m hopelessly weak and helpless on my own, when I’m afraid I’m going to fall and lose my salvation, that’s when I need to hear from God, “God is faithful.” He won’t let you fall. He sent Jesus to live, die and rise for you to win your eternal salvation and God will stop at nothing to make sure that you make it to your heavenly home.

Two contradictory truths, but two truths we desperately need to hear to keep us on the path to heaven.

I’m thankful that I have a God who knows exactly what my contradictory heart needs to hear, just like you,
pastor