The Conflict…
By: Kelley Hinson
Last night I prayed over the horrible day I had yesterday at work. I laid it all out to Him…every single ugly detail. The details caught my attention as I spilled it all, and after I was done there were certain aspects about my day, that caught my attention. Then, I told God how sorry I was for allowing my frustration to make me act the way I did. That’s when the guilt hit. I am a Christian woman who has given her life to Christ, shouldn’t I be able to naturally keep myself from reacting? Shouldn’t I have let sin die with the other person and counteract it with love? Shouldn’t that be what lives in me? The spirit of forgiveness and love…all the time…no matter what? Then, just as quickly,a passage of Scripture hit me, and it all made sense. I don’t have the ability to naturally do what it right. It’s the Spirit of God that that makes me recognize it and want to repent. Which is what I was doing in my prayer time with God.
The passage I am referring to is Romans 7:7-25. Apostle Paul explores the conflict between God’s law and sin and presents a solution that is a blessing to us now and available to all. “The Law”, referred to the Mosaic Law, and made it very clear, then, that humanity has the inability to do good. The Law made it seem that there was no hope, because of all its stipulations and rules, humanity is doomed to die in sin. We now live under a new law that through Christ has saved us from the condemnation that was faced through the old law. In essence, it saved us from ourselves.
As a Christian we DO NOT WANT to sin. It’s what we fight so hard against. But thanks to the very first sin (Genesis 3), sin is a part of our lives, whether we want it or not. Sin is what is natural. This is what we need Jesus to help us recognize, when we allow it, and when we are faced with those “crossroad moments” to better guide the way. God is who reveals sin and makes it real, Jesus is who saves us from it.
I wouldn’t have known that snapping back at my coworker was wrong if I didn’t know Jesus. God’s Word shows us what sin is and because of that, we recognize it and its power over us. Sin is what produces the behavior. Sin is what naturally comes out. Apostle Paul emphasizes his struggle with sin. The struggle between his mind, which serves God, and his flesh, that sin dwells in.
“For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”
When this “want” to do good is present, that is when sin is the closest. “Sin is crouching at the door” (Genesis 4:7). It is why the opportunity to do what is... not so good, is so in your face. It is an actual war. That “angel/devil” battle. We go to war every time we step out into the world. The enemy seeks out those of us that have Jesus in our hearts and have claimed victory over sin. There is no challenge for him with those who don’t know Christ. I completely understand Apostle Paul’s struggle. I’m sure most of you do as well.
“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
Jesus’s sacrifice delivered us from the consequences of our sin. We no longer have death through sin. That doesn’t say that doesn’t come with responsibility to what God exposes in our life. The recognition of the problem is only half the battle. The struggle will be ongoing and the will to do good will be presented to us as a challenge. Sometimes the “good” will win and our righteousness will stay intact. Sometimes we will do not-so-good. But, because we have the Spirit of God in us, we will recognize that time and we can choose to repent, and the next time choose righteousness.
In Ephesians 6, Apostle Paul refers to God’s Word as the Sword of the Spirit. It is what we use to fight and protect ourselves, along with the rest of the spiritual armor. That’s why it is so important to stay in God’s Word. Continue to learn and grow in your relationship with Him. Sin is a battle we will continue to fight. It’s not going anywhere, but like turning on the light in a dark room, God’s Word exposes it, so we can make the necessary changes to reach the goal of eternity with Him.
