“The never-ending struggle”
Meditation – Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Romans 7: 13-25 (Forward, p 62) CEV p. 1178
Sin: I don’t think that it is ever something that we are totally free from. Sinless perfection is something trumpeted in certain circles, but it is certainly not something that I have ever observed, whether in myself or in anyone else. Certainly, it appears to be something totally foreign to the apostle Paul.
In today’s passage, Paul says some interesting, and rather surprising, things about sin. Firstly, he says that he has been sold as a slave to sin. Secondly—this is a kind of corollary or outgrowth of the first, it is this sin that now controls him. And so, he can say, “I am not the one doing these evil things. The sin that lives in me is what does them” (verse 17).
But then, in the next verse and in verse 25, he reveals the real culprit. It is what has been often called ‘the flesh’. My present translation, the CEV or Contemporary English Version, is more ‘on the mark’ when it calls it ‘my selfish desires.’ And so, appropriately, it has to do with far more than just our physical, fleshly appetites but with any of our inclinations that run counter to the will of God. Thus selfishness, anger, envy, and fear can all be subsumed under the category of ‘the flesh’ or our ‘selfish desires’.
And how ‘the flesh’/ our ‘selfish desires’ function is as an inner traitor, an inner turncoat, someone that goes against or betrays us, or what is best for us. and gives entrance to the enemy, which is sin. In medieval warfare, this was often the easier or best way to take a castle if its defences were strong. This, of course, was an act of treason, an act of treachery, and required finding something who was willing to partner with you in this nasty deed. (I have heard anecdotal stories saying that this happened with the Great Wall of China and with Constantinople, but I’m not sure about either.) Sad to say, here we have a willing conspirator, an accomplice, namely our ‘selfish desires.’
So, are we doomed, are we consigned to always be the slaves to sin and death? No, not in the least. Jesus Christ has rescued us, and the Spirit gives us the life that comes from Christ Jesus and sets us free from sin and death. But then, even with this, there comes a choice: we must say ‘no’ to those selfish desires and refuse to give them admittance to our lives or say in how we will live. And, sad to say, it isn’t a once-and-for-all kind of thing: it is a decision, a choice, that we must make moment by moment and day by day. But thanks to the Spirit, we have the ability and the power to do so. Thanks be to God.
Forward notes: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me” (verses 19-20).
“In this fourth week of Lent, I find myself in good company when I read this passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans. As with New Year’s resolutions, four weeks into Lent my intentions are not quite as notable as they were on Ash Wednesday. I am doing what I do not want to do and not doing what I want to do. However, my motivation to adhere to my Lenten disciplines is much stronger in Lent than it is at New Year’s.
“I like to see myself as following the law through the lens of love. Like Jesus’s journey in the desert, my journey in Lent is marked by great temptations. All I can do is remember the love that motivated him to suffer for me.”
Moving Forward: “How do you overcome temptations to stray from what you want to do?”