Contend with that sin nature
Today’s guest writer is Beth Ferrell. You can find her penning from her heart daily over at I AM HEADING TOWARDS MY DESTINY.
How many of you can relate to Paul?
Romans 7:18b-20 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. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
I can relate in every area of my life!
My spirit is drawn to spend time with the Lord each morning, but so often I am pulled in another direction. I have the “desire to do what is good …”
My heart really wants to take better care of myself, eat the right foods, exercise as I should — STAY AWAY FROM WHITE FLOUR AND CHOCOLATE. Sigh. I have the “desire to do what is good …”
I want to be the Mom who always has time for her daughter, but I would LOVE to have time to read blogs, check my email, have some ME time! Sigh … I have the “desire to do what is good …”
I really want to hold my tongue, not react in anger, not act selfishly! I do have the “desire to do what is good …”
But what happens? Why is there a disconnect sometimes?
Yesterday when my daughter and I visited my parents, I shared with my Mom how my daughter “cheated” while playing Hi-Ho Cherry-O! My little one placed her hand on the spinner so it would stop at FOUR pieces of fruit (in this game, that is the best spin). When I questioned her about it, she immediately played the innocent, “I didn’t mean to do that” card. My Mom said, “Who did she learn that from?” and I immediately responded, “We are ALL born with a sin nature.”
Isn’t that the truth! We all have a sin nature to contend with.
THERE is the DISCONNECT.
Even Paul, who had the road to Damascus experience struggled with it.
Now that we recognize it, what do we do about?
We definitely don’t walk in condemnation.
Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
We shouldn’t sheepishly approach God because of our failures.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
We should:
- Repent and run to our Father.
- Approach His throne! We are welcomed there due to the blood of Jesus that covers our sins.
- Rejoice that His mercies are new every morning!
- Count it all joy when we go through trials.
Just as we are merciful when we see the sin nature in our own children, we serve a God who is even MORE merciful with us.
Jesus came to earth, and though He was without sin — He can understand our plight.
Through the Holy Spirit living within us, we have all of the tools we need to overcome this sin nature. It can only control us when we allow it.
I have recently learned an unattractive fact about myself. I have been doing the Couch-to-5K running plan and have discovered that I have never really pushed myself physically. I just turned 43 (shhh) and am just NOW really pushing myself beyond comfort. It makes me wonder how lazy (ouch — I don’t like that word) I am in other areas of my life as well.
Especially when it comes to conquering the sin nature. Conquering my fleshly desires for chocolate, ME time, etc … The list could go on and on.
Paul said, “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out” (Romans 7:18), but WE can carry it out. We are the temples of the Holy Spirit. We can overcome this flesh of ours.
I pray that each of us will press through a little harder and with God’s help — make wise choices.
We can live victorious lives!
Thanks for this powerfully spoken word sis, love you.
Yes, we often let out flesh get in the way to push ourselves a little harder.
Thank you for the reminder that His mercies are new every morning.
Great article! I’ve been struggling with this lately myself, and it’s nice to see that others do and also that there’s a way through this struggle. Sometimes it’s so easy to remember that we make mistakes and so hard to keep trying not to.
Thank you for reminding us that we CAN approach his throne with confidence! Sometimes when we struggle with our sinful nature and fail to make wise choices we feel like the last thing we can do is approach his throne with confidence.
Praise the Lord for his wonderful LOVE and GRACE and MERCY he has for us!!! What a LOVE!!! I am so glad his mercies are new every day.
Wonderful Blog!!
I so would love to be like Paul, dying to self daily, and what a remarkable Spirit he had, he was all for Christ, and hiding himself in the background as we must do, may Jesus been seen in all we do, and may we keep our eyes and heart toward him.
Thank you, Beth, for the very on-time Word. Feeling the need to receive God’s grace and forgiveness in my life today, and move forward confidently and boldly.
I laughed at the part of the story where you daughter cheated at Hi-Ho Cherrio. My son did exactly the same thing at about age 4. I’m glad to know that God is there to run to. I fight my sinful nature 24/7 it seems.
Thanks for a great post, Beth. Blessings ~
Nicely done! As a father of four I know all too well similar anecdotes as mentioned in your lesson! I believe if Paul were alive today he would surely be one of, if not the greatest Christian blogger on the web. Thanks for your well spoken message on a stumbling block we all deal with!
In His Love,
Andrew
@amart62
Thank you for this beautiful devotional. As a fellow Couch-to-5K runner, I can totally understand what you are saying. I could barely finish day one when I began. I am not running 30 mins. every other day. I am hoping to do my first 5K in October two days before my 40th birthday.
I honestly can say this is something that I really had to push myself on and I am darn right proud. I still struggle, but I know I can do it. Where as before I did not know I could do it.
I meant “now” not “not” sorry.
What a timely post, Laurie. I’m in a similar battle and when I reflect on that verse and pray, God keeps telling me his grace is sufficient, as he told Paul.
Thank you for the reminder of no condemnation. I think that’s part of what I need to learn, that I’m not condemned for this struggle. I do want to be free of it though, very much so. I’ll be 45 in November and staying fit and losing weight seems to get harder. LOL! 🙂
Hi Beth,
Thanks for sharing your heart my friend. I’m always blessed in your heart share and your transparency. We’re all pressing in and pressing forward in Christ dear one.
Love ya!