Before you read on today, you may find it helpful to review the words of Romans 7:13-25. (I believe you can simply scroll over it in this blog entry and read it.)
There are times in my life where I find myself in a struggle. It's the kind of struggle that I'm pretty sure most of us are acquainted with. We know the good and right thing to do. We even want to do the good and right thing. But when the moment arrives, we don't do the good and right thing. Our friend confides something in us, and for some reason, our mouth has a hard time keeping it quiet. We see the lady whose groceries have just fallen out of their bags as she's loading them in her car, but we really don't want to be bothered to stop and help. We know that others will not like the language that comes from our mouths, but we fail to put the filter into place and just allow those words to slip out.
I could add many more things to this list, some much more terrible than the ones I have already mentioned. But that's a struggle we find ourselves in. We know what's right, but we fail to do the right. We know something is wrong, and we try not to do it, but we cannot keep it from slipping out. It's not a unique battle to any one of us. We all go through it. And as we read these words, it should also be comforting to know that Paul went through the same thing. (As a brief aside, I know we often tend to make the biblical people more holy than they really were in their lives, and sometimes think that they didn't go through the same struggles and doubts that we do. Rest assured, there were not somehow more super-human than us. They went through the same things.)
I want to do the right thing, the good thing, but so often I find the wrong thing, the bad thing, actually taking place. It's the struggle that I have with myself, and that you have with yourself. And for those who are Christians, God tells us that we shouldn't be surprised at this struggle.
When God made us His very own in the washing waters of baptism, we suddenly found ourselves in a new position. The old, sinful self was still very much alive and present within us, as it had been since we were conceived. But now, something new was present. The new life, the new creation that we are in Jesus, came to be present within us as well. And suddenly, we became a battle ground. These two fight against each other. As we live our lives, sometimes it seems as though one is winning, and then the other one seems to gain the upper hand. It's kind of like the kid's game of tug-o-war. One minute the Spirit and our new life seems to pulling harder, and then the next, our sinful nature seems to gain more strength.
Over the next few weeks, I want to spend some time reflecting on these two "selves" that we find within us as Christians. Different parts of God's Word speak to one or the other, and sometimes to both. We apply the things we read in the Bible to each one in different ways. And so I intend to walk us through some of these differences, since there is a lot of confusion out there in our world when it comes to talking about our life in Christ Jesus. As always, throughout these moments of me thinking out loud, I welcome your thoughts, comments, and questions.
There are times in my life where I find myself in a struggle. It's the kind of struggle that I'm pretty sure most of us are acquainted with. We know the good and right thing to do. We even want to do the good and right thing. But when the moment arrives, we don't do the good and right thing. Our friend confides something in us, and for some reason, our mouth has a hard time keeping it quiet. We see the lady whose groceries have just fallen out of their bags as she's loading them in her car, but we really don't want to be bothered to stop and help. We know that others will not like the language that comes from our mouths, but we fail to put the filter into place and just allow those words to slip out.
I could add many more things to this list, some much more terrible than the ones I have already mentioned. But that's a struggle we find ourselves in. We know what's right, but we fail to do the right. We know something is wrong, and we try not to do it, but we cannot keep it from slipping out. It's not a unique battle to any one of us. We all go through it. And as we read these words, it should also be comforting to know that Paul went through the same thing. (As a brief aside, I know we often tend to make the biblical people more holy than they really were in their lives, and sometimes think that they didn't go through the same struggles and doubts that we do. Rest assured, there were not somehow more super-human than us. They went through the same things.)
I want to do the right thing, the good thing, but so often I find the wrong thing, the bad thing, actually taking place. It's the struggle that I have with myself, and that you have with yourself. And for those who are Christians, God tells us that we shouldn't be surprised at this struggle.
When God made us His very own in the washing waters of baptism, we suddenly found ourselves in a new position. The old, sinful self was still very much alive and present within us, as it had been since we were conceived. But now, something new was present. The new life, the new creation that we are in Jesus, came to be present within us as well. And suddenly, we became a battle ground. These two fight against each other. As we live our lives, sometimes it seems as though one is winning, and then the other one seems to gain the upper hand. It's kind of like the kid's game of tug-o-war. One minute the Spirit and our new life seems to pulling harder, and then the next, our sinful nature seems to gain more strength.
Over the next few weeks, I want to spend some time reflecting on these two "selves" that we find within us as Christians. Different parts of God's Word speak to one or the other, and sometimes to both. We apply the things we read in the Bible to each one in different ways. And so I intend to walk us through some of these differences, since there is a lot of confusion out there in our world when it comes to talking about our life in Christ Jesus. As always, throughout these moments of me thinking out loud, I welcome your thoughts, comments, and questions.
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