Are You In A Battle?

Roman 7:14-25

¹⁴ So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. ¹⁶ But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

 ¹⁸ And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. ¹⁹ I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. ²⁰ But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

 ²¹ I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. ²² I love God’s law with all my heart. ²³ But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. ²⁴ Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? ²⁵ Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

Do you ever question whether you are really a Christian? You accept Christ and everything is going so well, but then you begin to feel like there is always a struggle to do the right thing. What happened? Why are we letting sin into our lives?

The Apostle Paul struggled too. In Romans 7 he shared his personal struggles. He explained they were the struggles of his old nature, before he became a believer, conflicting with his new nature, received through the grace of Jesus Christ.

We will have similar struggles and temptations right up until the day we enter heaven. Paul says you will continue to lose the battle between the two natures if you rely only on your willpower. You can’t just say, “I’m going to stop sinning.” It won’t work. It will only lead to frustration.

Let’s look at some of the things we’ll experience if we continue to try to win this battle on our own.

Battle Signs

You will experience confusion. (Romans 7:15) Notice that Paul said “I”. He didn’t lay the blame on another person or an enemy. He recognized the confusion came from within himself.

You will experience guilt and shame. (Romans 7:16). So if your conscience is bothering you, it means you did something with the full knowledge it was wrong. The outcome of a bothered conscience is guilt and shame. God doesn’t want you to carry that around.

The outcome is compulsions and addictions. If you don’t learn how to fight the battle inside you, it will lead to compulsions and addictions. (Romans 7:17). We have a natural human nature with a built-in resistance to doing the right thing. We want to do what is easy and fun, but we don’t naturally want to do what is right and good. Sin is fun, and it can easily become habitual.

You will experience self-condemnation. Self-condemnation is when you start to feel bad and judge yourself, because you continually give in to your temper or laziness or whatever you struggle with and don’t want to. (Romans 7:18).

You will experience frustration. (Romans 7:18-20). The Bible calls this the law of sin. The law of sin is like the law of gravity – it always pulls you down. And the law of sin will continue no matter how hard you try to break your bad habits simply by willpower.

You will experience discouragement and despair. (Romans 7:23). Paul recognized that every day there was a battle going on inside his mind. Continually losing that battle because you’re fighting it with your own power will eventually lead to discouragement and despair.

 (Romans 7:24). “miserable” Are you miserable like Paul was?

Are any of these sounding familiar in your life? Hold on because Jesus brings us hope!

Winning the Battle  (Romans 7:24-25)

Deepen your understanding of Christ. You’ve accepted Christ; you’re a Christian; Jesus lives in you. But he doesn’t just want to be in you; he wants to be in charge of you.

You can give yourself either to your bad habits or to your Savior.

The battle between your old and new nature is important, and you must learn how to fight if you want to live in freedom. So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. (Galatians 5:1).

A devotion by Rick Warren