DId God Really Say…

May 12, 2024

Read Deuteronomy 26, Proverbs 7, Romans 7

The phrase, “the struggle is REAL!” is a statement you might hear someone say when they are having trouble doing something fairly easy or ordinary. Things like walking, or changing a lightbulb, or just trying to speak a sentence in English (or your native tongue). What have you struggled with recently? Opening a pickle jar or something else? The one thing we all struggle with is sin. It affects us all in various ways. Paul wrote about his struggle with sin in Romans 7.

“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” vv. 14-20.

Paul was writing about the struggle he faced with his sinful nature and the life he lived through the Holy Spirit. When we decide to follow Christ we receive the Holy Spirit who helps us and convicts us of sin. Until we go to be with the Lord we will have the same battle that Paul did. We aim to mortify our fleshly sinful nature, but sometimes we will miss it.

Many people will often fault Christians for being hypocrites and not living up to the standard in the Bible. If this happens to you, the best thing is to own it. We all fail and miss the mark in some ways. Hopefully we can minimize the consequences and damage done to others, but sadly this is not always the case. When followers of Christ sin it doesn’t mean that Christianity is false, in fact, I would argue that it gives evidence that the Christian faith is an accurate description of how the real world is in truth and reality.

If you are struggling with sin, take heart remember even the Apostle Paul admitted his own struggle and he is one of the giants of the faith who wrote 13 books of the Bible and won many people to Christ through his mission trips.

What else do you see in these chapters? What words, phrases, or themes stand out to you?
Add your thoughts below.