“I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. 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. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 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.”
Romans 7:21-25
NLT
I have a self-destructive habit. When I am anxious or depressed I do not sleep. I stay up way too late, even when I am exhausted and I have to get up early in the morning. I scroll through facebook, I read an interesting story, or I watch a show on Netflix. All the while, what I am really doing is avoiding my issues, rather than bring them to God. To be honest, I am deep in the throws of this habit as I type these words. It is well past midnight, and I have a busy day tomorrow, however, instead of writing this post that has been on my heart for a few days, I have avoided it. I hate that I do this. I don’t want to do this. Yet, here I am. Have you ever done something similar? Have you ever done something or avoided something, even though you knew it would hurt you or others around you? Even when you wanted to do the opposite? I thinking Romans 7:21-25 gives us some good insight when Paul writes:
“I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. 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. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 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.”
Here, Paul tells us that even when he wants to do what is right, sometimes he ends up in doing what is wrong. Even though he loves God and His commands with all his heart, he still ends up in sin sometimes. Why? Because there is a power that is at war in our minds, sin. Jesus conquered sin and death when he died on the cross and rose from the dead, and when we choose to follow Him as both our Lord and our Savior, we are no longer slaves to the sin nature inside of us! We have the right and the ability, through the Holy Spirit, to choose life over death. However, sin still battles for our minds. This is why we sometimes do what we know is wrong, what will hurt us, and what will hurt others even though we don’t want to. The good news is that Jesus has won this battle, and through the power of the Holy Spirit we can fight against sin. The hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, has a beautiful verse that I use as a prayer during moments where I can feel sin battling in my mind. It says:
“Oh, to grace how great a debtor, Daily I'm constrained to be, Let that goodness like a fetter (chain) , Bind my wandering heart to Thee, Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love, Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above”
May we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer the sin in our minds that Jesus so graciously freed us from!
My Prayer For You
Father, we know that we are prone to wander from you. Help us to protect our hearts and our minds from sin. Help us in our moments when we struggle with sin and destructive habits. Empower us with your Holy Spirit to fight the sin that so easily entangles us. Amen.
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