The Truth Will Set You Free, Part 12

“For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.” Romans 7:14-25

We usually do not seek freedom until we are miserable in our bondage. Sin’s pleasures can control us for many years, decades - eve a lifetime. It is not until we realize the extent to which sin controls us that we cry our for release.

Some would say it is too late to be delivered from the bondage of such masters as lust, alcohol, drugs, fear, anger, or inferiority. But with God our helplessness is our first step on the road to freedom. God places us in the awkward, uncomfortable position of helplessness.

Most of us do not fully receive our freedom in Christ because we will do almost anything to avoid such a predicament. We enjoy the feeling of control. We detest the notions that we cannot stop our drinking, cannot halt our immorality, cannot conquer our fears, cannot heal our marriages, and cannot discipline our children.

Many of us see helplessness as weakness - as admission that we are inadequate to solve our dilemmas or to do anything apart from Christ “...for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). But in God’s eyes and along His route to spiritual freedom, our feelings of helplessness are the birth pangs of a miracle.

“...Revive me according to Your word.” Psalm 119:25