The Path to Triumph

“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.” Romans 7:18-19

“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 7:24-25

In almost every instance where the Bible addresses inappropriate behavior, it is coupled with the need to know our identity in Christ. In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he reminds us that we have “laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self...” (Col. 3:9-10). What is he trying to say? We cannot halt corrupt, debilitating habits by mere self-effort or rigid discipline. That may work temporarily, but it does not strike at the root of the problem.

The path to triumph begins not by determination but by discovery of your new, radical identity in Jesus Christ. You are a new creature in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). You have died to the rule and reign of sin because of your union with Christ, and you have been raised with Him (Rom. 6). All that Christ is you have within you through the Person of the Holy Spirit. You are no longer a sinner but a saint.

The message Paul conveyed is to act like who you really are - a child of God. This truth is the key to overcoming strongholds of sin. Confess it, believe it, and the lure of sin will diminish.

“No person can consistently behave in a way that’s inconsistent with the way he perceives himself.”
-Neil T. Anderson