Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.
Struggling with Sin
14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 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. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 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.
In his letter to the Ephesian church, Paul uses the illustration of a wrestling match. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood…” – Eph. 6:12. Here in the Roman’s epistle, Paul describes his own struggle with sin … wanting to do right … inevitably doing what is wrong. If we are honest with ourselves, who among us can not describe the same struggle … the same wrestling match?
So what do we do? Just surrender to our enemy. Absolutely not! We cling more closely to our friend. Follow Jacob’s example (Jacob wrestles with God).
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry,
Everything to God in prayer.
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