Romans 7:14-25
Struggles With Sin
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 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.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Luke 9:57-62
The Cost of Following Jesus
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”
62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Is it possible there would be much more faith in the world if sin and temptations were at a minimum?...
We struggle with sin and St. Paul writes about his struggles with sin in his life...And as non-believers watch Christians and see these struggles with sin and temptations they believe less in Christianity...There is a cost to following Jesus and it affects both the believer and the non-believer...In following Jesus there is a sacrifice, and He never hid this from any of His followers or disciples...In this world we will face troubles, sins, and temptations...
But there would be less and less atheists if we Christians who write about and talk about Jesus could act like more and more like Him...But as soon as we are done writing or talking about Him ,we deny Him with our acts and our deeds...Troubles, sin and temptations come around and cause us to struggle...Taking up Jesus' cross is very difficult...Christianity is hard and Jesus is a hard Man to follow in the sense of acting like Him and doing the things He did and does...But Christians struggle with sin, just as St. Paul struggled with sin...All of have a sinful nature...And so we have many more non-believers not believing in Jesus, because we who do believe in Him cannot talk and act and do like the One that we most the have faith in...