Struggling believers often quote Paul's dilemma in Romans 7 as a justification for their difficulty in overcoming their sin:
Well what about Paul?, the argument goes, Look at how he struggled with doing what was right.
They quote: I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.(Romans 7:14)
So if Paul, I mean PAUL the incredible zealot who gave up his entire adult life for Christ struggles, then why shouldn't I?
Here's what I see today, and you can correct me if I'm wrong: Paul was making a point here that started way before this verse. He's talking about sin and why we sin and if we should even sin in this new Spirit state that we have received. But the point he is making does not end at this verse!
I believe it ends in Chapter 8:
But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you (And remember that those who do not have the spirit of Christ living in them are not Christians at all) (Romans 8:9)....
So dear brothers (that sounds like a summation to me!) you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. (Romans 8:12)
THIS is his point -- not that issue back in Romans 7, but here in Romans 8: we don't have to sin and if we do it's because we CHOOSE to! Come on, what's the purpose of having God's Holy Spirit living in us, directing us, infusing us with wisdom if we aren't going to allow Him to change our lives? Here is the real struggle: is it Him or is it Me?
I know that many argue about whether or not Paul was speaking about himself as a Jew before conversion in Romans 7, or whether it was a personal, autobiographical statement of what was going on in his life at that moment.
I don't think it really matters. What matters is that although we may struggle with the CHOICE of doing right or wrong (i.e. submitting to the Holy Spirit or not), we struggle not because we have to, but because we want what we want when we want it.
Now where those desires come from is another question for another day...
I have been accused of being condemning and harsh when I bring up the Truth of Scripture in light of something that a person has been describing that's going on in her life. Ironically, this comes from people within the church more than in the jail.
(People in jail know they need help! It's us "free people" who are truly caught up in the snares of our sins and justifications.)
But anyone who knows me well knows that I have had a whole litany of sins in my life -- starting with number One and going all the way to Ten on the list in Exodus. I haven't avoided one of them.
In my experience, freedom comes from allowing the healing, penetrating, powerful heat of God's Holy Spirit to get inside of us and do His redemptive work, not to run from it.
Well it's hard! some people tell me.
Yes, it is hard to put yourself in the spotlight and ask God to burn it all off -- all the dross, all the impurities, all the ugliness that we have been carrying around inside us for years and years. It's embarrassing. It's humiliating. It's painful.
And it's worth it. What could be more fulfilling than to bask in that Light-- be warmed by that same, sweet, penetrating Light, be comforted, be given strength and purpose?
The rewards so outweigh the painful process that brings you there...
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