“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”
(Romans 7:18–19 ESV)
The Christian life can often feel like a struggle. It can feel like an ongoing battle. It feels like a battle as we desire to live for the Lord, and strive to do so. Yet, at the same time, we’re faced constantly with temptation, and we regularly give in to our sinful desires.
We tend to find this discouraging. It causes us to question our Christian maturity. And it can even cause us to question our faith.
We believe that, if we truly trust in Christ, living in obedience to the Lord should be easier. We believe that, if we are mature in faith, resisting temptation should come more naturally. And we believe that, if the Spirit of God truly dwells within us, our sinful nature shouldn’t have such a strong influence in our life.
However, as we look at the above passage, we find that our reasoning is way off base. We find, in fact, that we have it completely backwards. We find that this battle indicates not a lack of faith or maturity. It indicates, rather, that we do have faith and that the Spirit of God is actively working in our life.
Paul, in this passage, is describing his own struggle with sin. And none of us would accuse Paul of being lacking in faith or spiritual maturity. Nor would we dare to call his salvation into question.
He is one of those whom we esteem for his great faith. He’s one of those whose maturity we admire. He’s one of those whom we seek to emulate in our own life of faith.
Yet, even though this is true, he struggled in the same way as the rest of us. He desired to do what was right. He desired to live for the Lord. However, he lacked the ability to carry it out. And he continued to sin.
It’s clear from this that Paul had the same sinful nature as you and I. And he wrestled with it in the very same way. While he delighted in the law of God, and while he longed to carry it out, he lived in a body of sin that always pulled him in the opposite direction.
This, you see, is not the exception. It’s the norm. It is the shared experience of all who trust in Christ.
I say this not to justify our sin. And I say this not to approve of our wrongdoing. Our sin is still sin, even if it is normal.
I say this to comfort us in the face of this struggle. I say this to ease our doubts as we engage in this battle. It should, in no way, lead us to question our faith or our salvation.
If we had no faith, we wouldn’t struggle with sin at all. If we had no spiritual maturity, we wouldn’t struggle with temptation. And if the Spirit of God were absent from our life, we would have no desire for the things of God.
In that case, we would simply sin. We would live lives of sin, thinking nothing of it. We would engage in wrongdoing without any sense of guilt, and with no desire to live otherwise.
Realizing this, when we sin, we should come to the Lord in a spirit of confession and faith. We should come to him, trusting in Christ for the salvation he’s provided. And we must never allow our ongoing struggle to call this into question.
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