Monday's 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. 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. – Romans 7:18-20 (NLT)

Does this sound familiar to anyone?  I know I struggle with doing the right things and not doing things I shouldn’t do.  We still struggle with sin even though it’s ultimate power over us is gone.  In other words we fall back into old habits of being led by our sinful nature at times, even if we don’t really want to.  

Even Paul, an apostle and biblical hero, the one who’s responsible for writing the bulk of the New Testament, struggled.  In 2 Cor. Paul alludes to the fact that he was tempted to become proud.  He was saved.  He was preaching the gospel.  He was an apostle.  But he still struggled with his sinful nature.  We all do.

It’s like having a little bit of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in us.  Do you remember the book by Robert Louis Stephenson Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?  Dr. Jekyll is a good upstanding person who is experimenting with a potion that will allow him to become another person.  When he takes it he has this split personality.  Sometimes he’s the good Dr. Jekyll, and at other times he becomes the ruthless killer Edward Hyde.  This is the classic story about good verses evil.  Stephenson was once asked, “Where did you find the model for your two characters?”  Stephenson, a Christian, responded with “I found it in my own nature.”

We all have a little Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in us.  It might not be that we are respectful sometimes and cold blooded killers at others.  This would be the extreme.  But as Christians we are devoted God and His will for our lives.  But there are times when our sinful nature wins out and we become, “it’s all about me”, people.  We struggle with the sin nature within.  

The power of the cross is such that we don’t have to worry about these sinful nature moments dooming us.  Because of the sacrifice of Jesus we are forgiven, even for those moments that we “do what we don’t want to do” or “don’t do what we want to do.”

In the love of Christ,

greg