ROMANS 7
19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. – Romans 7:19-25
ROMANS 7 INNER CONFLICT
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
Before I knew the Lord Jesus Christ
I was a slave to my own desires
I only did what gives me pleasure
I chased wealth, achievements and treasures
When I learned about the laws of the Lord
I can no longer continue to follow the world
I now want to please God rather than myself
But my body still desires to give in to the “self.”
The worst kind of conflict is the one that is inside of us. Paul talks about this inner conflict in this letter to the Romans. He was referring to that battle between the flesh and the spirit. We didn’t used to be bothered by sins until we heard the gospel and received it. When one pledged allegiance and loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ, the old selfish ways are now a threat to the Spirit’s transforming work. Before we heard the gospel and received it, we were unaware of the sins that we automatically do, but when the laws of God were presented to us, a consciousness is stirred in us and we begin to be convicted of sins. Our conscience kicks in because we now belong to the Lord.
There is no struggle to all those who continue to live in the standards and systems of the world, but for those who believe in Christ, they can no longer continue to do the wicked and evil ways they used to do. Now, the inner conflict is a challenge to believers.
REFLECTION
- How can we win the battle that wages inside us regularly?
