I have discovered
this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do
what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But
there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is
still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who
will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank
God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our
Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law,
but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. Romans 7:21-25
One of the dictionary definitions for the
word conundrum is a riddle, or a question asked for
amusement, typically one with a pun in its answer. A second definition is: a confusing and difficult problem or
question. Paul’s conundrum has
none of the first definition; there’s little humor in struggling with sin,
doing the one thing you hate most, and not doing what you really want to do, because
it is the nature of darkness drawing you to it, with all the power of Hell
behind it. Paul’s conundrum is the
second type, a confusing and difficult problem, and the question behind it…why
can’t I do better than this? In
short, it’s a living Hell.
Paul’s conundrum is ours. Somewhere between the cradle and adulthood, most
everyone with a reasonable grip on reality begins to understand this most awkward
of life’s realities: you know
you were created for better than what you do…and you also know you can’t help
yourself. It’s like that with the
chocolate-covered Payday bar that has been sitting on my desk since my birthday
three days ago, that I do not want to eat, yet I want
to eat it more than take my next breath.
Paul’s condition (that which led him to label himself the
worst of all sinners[1]) is, an unanswerable riddle, a plague in the life of everyone
in Adam’s lineage. Paul agonized over
his desire to do good, and the eventual result of messing up…again, and
again! And, if you can say with a
straight face that you’ve never encountered that in your personal experience,
you haven’t lived long enough, sinned big enough, or honestly come face to face
with reality of the human condition.
Hang around a little longer, think a little deeper, and keep your eyes
open. You will see the DNA of your
personal goodness come untangled at some point.
The good news of
Paul’s (and our) condition is, when you ask the same question, Who will
deliver me from this hell…there is, and always has been (in the heart
and lovingkindness of God’s plan) an answer for any who are willing to bend a
knee. The answer is Jesus Christ; he
will BE the power that overcomes sin for you, because He
knows you cannot do it by yourself.
For You Today
If you haven’t bumped into this
question/conundrum, you either haven’t been honest, or you’ve not been
listening. It’s there, and it is related
to whatever troubling behavior, and nagging guilt exists in the back of your
mind. And God has provided the only
remedy for what ails you:
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 1 John 1:9
For
other posts on this topic: Impossible and Free Will
[1] Images: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
[1] This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. 1 Timothy 1:15
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