APR 4

Romans 7:21-25
Memorise Romans 7:22
“… when I would do good, evil is present with me.”

Over the past two days, we have seen how important works are – they are proof of a living faith. We have also seen that if we continue doing works of darkness it affects our fellowship with God. However, this does not mean that if we have sinned, we can never again live a reformed life. A reformed life is not a sinless life.

In Romans 7, Paul writes about his constant struggle with sin. When he talks about the “law in my members” in verse 23, he is referring to the fact that there is still the vestigial remains of his fleshly nature that battles within him constantly tempting him into sin, and that it is always “warring against the law of [his] mind”. On one hand, he knows the law of God and desires to obey it. Yet on the other hand, there is the “law of the flesh” – the sin in this imperfect body that we have, which he had to struggle against. Sometimes, in this struggle, he fails and falls into sin. This is what causes him to cry out in verse 24, “O wretched man that I am!” Does this mean that Paul was a wicked sinner who was doomed to hell? Far from it, for he was a man who was constantly aware of the frailties of the human body and its propensity to sin. Instead it was precisely because of his desire for a reformed life, that he was continually searching his heart, and was so sensitive to sin, that every little errant way within him caused him great anguish and despair before God.

Thus, we see that a reformed life does not mean that we have completely banished sin from every part of our lives. Living a reformed life does not mean that we have become immune to temptations, or that we will never sin. While good works are part and parcel of a reformed life, but so is the constant struggle against sin.

Do we face this struggle against sin? If we are living a reformed life, we will face it on a daily basis because we now have the mind of Christ, which causes us to want to obey God, and mortify the sinful nature that is still in us. A person who is not living a reformed life will not be actively engaged in this tug-of-war with sin – he or she will be succumbing to the flesh and sinning without this agony of soul.

Thought: Do I struggle against sin, or have I been giving in to temptations without much of a fight?
Prayer: Lord, help me to have a greater delight in obeying Thy Word, and help me to daily war against sin in my life.