This I Keep On Doing

“For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 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…So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members…Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:15-24.

On any given morning, each of us could pen this passage regarding our own lives. We know our weaknesses which we battle every day of our lives. These weaknesses infiltrate our lives differently for each of us but power our minds. Whether the weaknesses are greed, envy, jealousy, anger or resentment we are well aware of these thought patterns that wage war against our mind, heart and spirit. We wake each morning with a desire to live out God’s purpose for our lives with the awareness that our weaknesses do not fit into God’s economy. We are resolved to not display those unlovely attitudes and we even pray in that way.

Then, much like a thief that comes in the night, the realization of the waging war through our thoughts and actions are evident and we feel defeated much like Paul. We cannot leave any spiritual windows or doors open to allow the thief to enter. We must guard our hearts and renew our minds and prepare for these unwelcome attacks from our enemy – ourselves.

Paul asks a poignant question regarding the remedy for his own mind – Who will rescue me from this body? The remedy is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior who God sent primarily for salvation but secondly for us to wage war against sin. Whether our battle is on the worldly stage or the battle is within our mind we will be victorious in our war if we succumb to God’s will and intentionally take captive every thought that is not to benefit Christ.