Thought of the Day !!

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. 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.

                              Romans 7:18-19 (NLT)

Paul sure is baring his soul here.  Can anyone relate?  

Now I don't think that Paul means this to be taken literally that every time something came up he did the wrong thing.  I think he means that he struggled with certain things.  Maybe it was pride or arrogance or unforgiveness or whatever.  He saw himself as struggling with making the wrong decisions even though he deeply loved God's law and abiding by it.  He loved Christ and hated nothing more than letting Him down.  But at times he did just that.  Again, can anyone relate?

I like that he bares his soul here with us because it shows that if the great apostle struggled with and fell to sin that we are not doomed when we do.  He shows us that all of us struggle and that we can know that there is a way out.  He later writes in verse 25, "Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord."

You see, so many times when we struggle with sin, any sin, we will continue to try harder to fix it.  But this is trying to fix our situation by our own power.  The answer lies not in working harder, but working smarter.  It lies in getting closer to Jesus. 

You may have a relationship with Jesus.  And you may be struggling mightily with something in your life.  Could your problem be grief or depression or pain?  Maybe it's a sin like addiction or gluttony or pornography or pride or sexual misconduct or lustful thoughts or gambling or being a bad parent or child or....  

Instead of trying harder by your own power, deepen your relationship with your Savior who said that you could carry your burdens to Him.  He may take away your struggle.  He may lesson it.  No one knows but Him.  But what I do know is this.  He can do a much better job than we can in finding solutions for those things that we will struggle with.  

In the love of Christ,

greg