“So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.”
Romans 7:14-20, 25 NLT
Whether we want to admit it or not it is in our very nature to not want to to do what God tells us to do. We’re like the child who keeps reaching for the glass on the table you said they couldn’t have. Or the time you were in the kitchen with the stove and told them not to touch it, because it’s hot. Unfortunately, thanks to Adam and Eve eating the fruit in the garden we are born in sin and shaped in iniquity.
Sorry to break the bad news if you didn’t know. Just in case you were trying to figure out why there is craziness running rampant all through the earth. Well it started in the beginning with man and woman being tricked by the serpent to disobey God. Now we want things we’re not supposed to have. A seemingly unquenchable desire to want and to do things that are wrong.
This is why we have to be thankful and be diligent to walk in God’s plan for our lives. Even when man sinned God didn’t come done just to lay out punishments. He already had a plan working for our good. That plan was and is Jesus the Christ. God’s ultimate plan of redemption already sitting in the wings waiting to come fruition. Now when we accept Christ we have this battle going on in our bodies.
That sinful nature that was set in motion in the garden fighting against our regenerated spirit that has been made alive and reconnected back to God. Paul calls it the war in our members. He gives us some insight and tells us not to conform to this world and its evil ways. (Romans 12:2) We are to be transformed, not by wearing suits and long dresses to church, or by simply not using slang terms and not by carrying a Bible the size of an encyclopedia under our arms everywhere we go. We are transformed/changed by the renewing of our minds.
Paul also writes to let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:5) We have to allow the Holy Spirit into what’s going on in our heads and work with God to change our mindset and make it new. Our human nature and/or our will is strong, but it’s not stronger than God. At the same time God is a gentleman and doesn’t come into your heart kicking down the door. He stands, knocks and waits for us to let Him in. Then in concert with the Spirit of God we can use that same drive for sin and turn it into motivation for righteousness.
This flesh as long as we live on this earth until Christ comes back will have a hunger for sin. God by His Spirit wants to help us to flip the switch and press towards righteousness. Starve that sinful hunger. Weaken the beast that lives within and through Christ live out our new nature.
That leads us to our Throwback Song of the Week. We’re headed to Chi-town to the homie J. Kwest. This is from his album entitled “20/20: The InVision”. The featured track features a sample from the classic Michael Jackson song “Human Nature”. Fittingly, he titles this track “Human Nature”. Tune into the Trackstarz show this Saturday to hear DJ Jeremaya spin this for the Throwback Song of the Day. Until next time…
Peace and blessings,
Damo
J. Kwest
