Daily Word

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have a desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil is close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 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. Romans 7:15-23. Paul is able to analyze, but not to explain the contrast between himself and the “sin that dwells within me.” There is a real and bewildering conflict between the energies of sin and of the grace in his life. He hints, however, that the indwelling sin is a temporary lodger in him. While sin still accompanies his new identity in Christ in his life, the new identity will result in the final triumph over indwelling sin. Today, spend some time to truly grasp who you are in Christ. The flesh is full if sin but triumph over it is both promised and assured.