It Comes Down To Choice

The battle is still real.  For me, even after six decades.  Why?  Because I'm just old ... not dead. 

As long as you are above ground, your greatest battle is going to be with yourself.  It almost seems sometimes as if God set us up to fail by giving us a "free will" ... which means we are always making choices.  And then we must live with them.

In Romans 7:14-21, the Apostle Paul spoke about his personal problems concerning  life's choices when he said ...

"But I am carnal, sold under sin.  For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that I do."  ... The old King James language is a little archaic and hard to understand, so let me put it into my own words.

My translation ... "I live in a body of flesh that is still a slave to sin.  And my flesh overcomes my will not to do the very things I loathe and detest, and so I end up doing those things I don't want to do."  ... I"m not sure about you, but I find this is how I feel more often than I would like. 

But there is hope; Paul goes on with this reasoning ...

"If then I do that which I would not ... it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."

That sounds like a good excuse to me ... "It really wasn't me that did it, I couldn't help myself ... the devil made me do it."  Now where have I heard that before?

But you know, the truth is ... it's not the devil ... it's just that the natural man is a fallen creature.  Your soul may get re-born, but your flesh stays the same.  Paul explains as he continues ...

"For I know that in me, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will (to do good) is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not."

I would say it this way ... "I know that there is nothing good in my natural body of flesh; and even though the will within me is to do what is right, I can't find how to carry it out."  

Paul sums up his thought with ... "I find then a law, (a fact of life) that, when I would (choose in my heart to) do good, evil (my unsaved flesh) is present with me."

I think Paul is saying ... "I am in such a condition, (under this law of nature) that when I would do good, when my will is intent on obedience to God, and is in opposition to sin ... this evil sinful nature is in my flesh."

Paul is not saying that he is still in his old un-regenerated state as he was before he was born again.  I believe he is teaching that even after the new birth we still have to do battle with our "unsaved" bodies.  It's just that simple.

For the born-again believer ... just as the "will" to do good is constantly at hand, the principle of sin is also equally present in us.  The question then becomes ... does your "will" to do good, have dominion over the appetites and passions of the flesh, or will the sin nature dominate your soul?

Again ... it comes down to choice.

Our "will" can consent to sin.  And because it is "free will," it must possess this power ... yet at the same time it is impossible to force it to sin.  Even Satan himself cannot do this; and before he can get it to sin, he must get it's consent.  Know this ... your "will" can be worn down.  That's what the battle is all about.

We all have the power of choice. 

Choose wisely.