Is there a war within you?

Hey everyone, there is a lot of fighting going around isn’t there? Between really everyone. It could be small or great. It’s between those that should wear a mask or not, have church or not, have liberty or safety. Fighting is everywhere.

The other reality is that a lot of our conflicts though come from within. It’s the fight to do what is right versus wrong. This very principle and experience is spoken of in these couple passages down below.

“For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For in my inner self I joyfully agree with God’s law. But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin.”

Romans 7:15-18,22-25

Hcsb Bible.

Paul has been talking about our struggles and being slave to sin and how being slave to God is more powerful and better. He points out something that each follow of Christ has experienced. The struggle of fighting against sin is almost impossible, but in fact it is.

You’ve seen it in your life and the lives of others. I’ve even seen it with those that I work with since I work in a mental hospital. We repeatedly return to our sin no matter how much we actually know how bad it is for us. I constantly see patients go out in recovery and then they come back because the treatment that we give them doesn’t replace their addiction(sin) with something that can fill the void. It also doesn’t help since some of the places they send them to are in bad areas to start with.

We see people fight their sin because the law of the land says it’s wrong and points them to what is right but they fall to it in one or another. They may obey the law of God by not committing adultery, but they sure do lust after a woman that isn’t theirs. They say they obey the law of God by not murdering someone, but they sure do hold a grudge/trash talk/ undermine them out of hatred.

They may say they obey the law of God by not stealing but they sure do covet their neighbors stuff. They may not have a golden calf in their house to worship but they definitely put their relax time or entertainment ahead of their Bible time or fellowship with the church they call home. They may say that their family is fed and protected, but it’s not by their hands, but rather hands of other strong and hard working people.

In any case, we are constantly at war with what is right and wrong inside of us as followers of Christ. So if we are constantly at war with what is right in our lives, what should we do?

He points out that nothing good lives within his flesh,his being. So how in the world is he going to fight against the sin that is condemning to hell? How are we going to fight against our sin that keeps us from God? How are we going to do what is right if we really have no chance?

The answer is Jesus Christ as he says towards the end of the passage. Through men, something is impossible, but through God, anything is possible. It is through only the working and allowing the Holy Spirit to dwell and work throughout your being will we be able to obey the law of God completely.

Of course we may sin, but those times are when we allow our flesh to take over instead of the Holy Spirit that swells inside you as a believer.

So keep fighting the good fight against the flesh. Know that the fight is what is what is supposed to happen. Be a slave to God. Surrender to the king of kings that allows you the strength to overcome sin and gives you compassion with it.