The Battle

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

THE BATTLE

Rom 7:13-25

13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. 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 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, 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. 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

NIV

This is really confession time for Paul and it should bring us to the realization that we are no different than this mighty man of God who wrote this letter. Within the context of what Paul is confessing we get the impression, there is a difference between our mind, or heart, and our body. But that almost sounds like dualism where the mind and the body are separate entities. However, that cannot be what Paul is describing of himself and his struggle with sin. It would seem right to think that our body is controlled by our mind, that we are one being fully integrated mind, body, soul, or spirit. Because we have been created in the image of the One True God, who is three in one, Father, Son, and, Holy Spirit, we are that same three in one, which means we cannot think one thing and do another. We understand the metaphor Paul is using that it is his desire to do good, but evil is right there with him. However, our bodies cannot act alone, it is always subject to our mind. There is a war that wages within us as well it was in Paul. We do want to do good; we do what to avoid willful sin, it is not our desire to just go on having an attitude or behavior that is not good, but it happens. It is not that we are not in control, and we act thoughtlessly, but maybe that is what we do in some sense. We do not want to think judgmentally about someone, and yet we find that is exactly what we are doing. When we realize our error in thinking, we repent and seek forgiveness. It is a lot like overeating which is being a glutton and is bad for our bodies, yet it seems our body craves those sweets or whatever and we just cannot help ourselves, so we indulge. But it is the mind that is craving after those things, not this body alone. The war is in our thinking, for we cannot see our body acting out sin while we are wanting to serve God in our mind. If we took the approach of dualism, then we could excuse our body's behavior while we praise God in our minds. We cannot think that we will ever escape sin completely on this side of heaven, for we are captive to our humanity. Even though we desire to do good, that is not doing bad, or sinful thinking and consequently sinful behavior, we still get entangled in that sinful thinking which sometimes leads to that wrong behavior. There are other times that we simply have the wrong attitude while appearing good to everyone in our behavior. That is what a façade is. Just like some of those old buildings that have problems on the inside, but have been faced with a shining new front, so they appear to be a new building but have those hidden issues. When we harbor any ill feelings, judgment, envy, jealousy, bitterness, unforgiveness, even anger, or feeling hurt, or overlooked, without acting any of those out, we are still waging that war within our mind. It is a problem we will face until we reach heaven. But we cannot excuse ourselves and say, “well, we are just human”. But the fact is that is what we are. However, we can be thankful to God for he has rescued us from this dreadful state, and set our feet on solid ground, His Word. We know right from wrong and even when we do wrong, we have the confidence that is not our downfall for all our sin has been forgiven in Christ Jesus. Because we are still battling against sin, we are not condemned, but forgiven. It isn’t easy to be holy and righteous, but in Christ, that is what we are. However, it still seems like a battle.