The Struggle is Real

The struggle is real, and Paul gets real here in these verses! He realizes the struggle that all believers have including Himself and shows that even though we praise the Lord that even though He has saved us from our sin, the sin nature within us is still trying to have a grasp over our lives. It still fights for control and even though we do not want to sin, it seems that we do it anyway! How many times have you found yourself in the mental battle of saying “I really want to do this, but I know I shouldn’t!” We do not always win those battles. I think for many people when we lose that battle, when we give in to temptation, we can question the validity of our own salvation. Our guilt over sin grabs hold of our heart and mind, and we throw ourselves into worry about; is my salvation real? Do I really believe? Is God actually real? Does He actually love me? If I am rescued from sin, then why do I always seem to lose the fight against it? Paul shows here that the struggle is real. Even Paul struggled. I think the repetitive nature of these verses is Paul being raw and real over his own struggle; that sometimes it feels like He does sin even though it is not what he wants to do! He says that he hates it! He hates sin, but yet he does still sin. Praise the Lord as Christians, Paul shows us that our inner being wants to do right and serve a new master. We want to serve Christ! However, we are still wretched. We are all sinners, and that sin nature is still within us. We still sin, but we do not want to! As Christians, we hate sin! We are saved from sin! It is no longer a master, but something that is waging war against us. God is greater than all our sin. This is the good news! All sin has been defeated by Christ! If he has defeated all sin, then he has already won the war that we battle! He has delivered us through Jesus Christ. Praise God for His deliverance against sin.