Shackles

Shackles

Good afternoon! I hope that your week has been exceptional thus far. Today we are working in the book of Romans. This is a letter, by a missionary named Paul, written to a church in Rome. Paul is going to tackle a tough issue here that I feel many of us run into all of the time. Shall we begin?

The verses are found in Romans 7:14-20

¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

There is an idea in this passage that our body is a battlefield. Once you have accepted Christ as your Savior and began to work on a relationship with him your body is competing with the sin nature that it still holds. Paul struggles with this as I feel many of us do today. 

First. We always do what we don't want to do, and what we want to do we can't do. Maybe you are reading this right now and you feel very tied down because of a sin. It seems like no matter what measures you put up to stop it, it always wins and always feels stronger. You are not alone. Paul focuses on a building up and strengthening of community when he writes and this is because he realized how strong sin can feel. By not walking through it alone, we already have an advantage that God has granted us. When He created Adam He saw that it was not good for man to be alone. When sin entered the world, Eve was walking by herself in the garden. Community is a blessing given to us to help combat sin and win in this war.

There is one other point that I feel is very important to look at. Paul states he has the desire to do what is good, but can't carry it out. Continue to desire to do good. Paul understands this struggle and fights it daily. His body is a battlefield just like ours is, yet he continued to have a desire to do good. I think this is key, because God gives us strength and tools to help combat our sin nature, so never give up! Never give in to that nature because that is a victory for Satan not God and that is never ok. 

Now what does this mean for you today, sitting at your computer, reading this blog. Maybe you are dealing with something really tough right now. Sin attacks us in many different ways and I can't begin to guess what some of you are walking through reading this, but I can assure you that you are not alone. Find someone to talk to about it, set up some accountability for it. 

Maybe you have recently become a Christian and you feel awful because even being a Christian you still continue to sin. It's not just you, everyone has dealt with this frustration at one time. Everyone has had an issue in their life, a thorn in their side in which they feel they can't conquer. This is because we weren't made to conquer it alone. Jesus surrounded himself with community and His disciples and we should follow His example. Jesus brings us all together through his forgiveness, and we will walk through this together, because we are the body of Christ. 

Thank you for reading and God bless.