Romans 7:7-25
Struggling With Sin
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. 13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
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 I know that nothing good lives 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 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. 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: When 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 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. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
I don't think people like to talk about sin...I think the topic of sin is one that many may even avoid talking about...But sin is a part of our world...And we can read the daily headlines to see that the world has gone wrong...And the non-believer might point to the Christian and say he too has gone wrong, since in the world there are many Christians...So we followers of Jesus are part of what has gone wrong in this world...
Christians, like the non-believer are flawed and struggle with sin...Even the Great Saints sinned...St. Paul discussed his own personal struggles with sin...St. Paul saw the problems of this world and knew he was a part of it, because of his own personal struggles with sin and his sinful nature...St. Paul saw God's Laws at work and he wanted to do good, but he saw the evil right there inside him...He even called himself a wretched man, and in his sinful nature a slave to the law of sin...But he had faith and believed...
So although we struggle with sin and the problems of this world is ours, the struggling Christian has Jesus as his Savior who died for his sins...I might say to the non-believer that we should point the finger at ourselves, and not at the One who teaches us to repent and not sin...We seem to be stuck with and in our own sinful nature, while Jesus did all He could, and even die on the cross to save us from our sins...Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our LORD! ...