Every honest believer can identify with Paul in this portion of scripture. It seems like we always end up doing the things we should not do and that we never do the stuff we should be doing. We know the right thing to do but our stupid flesh keeps getting in the way. Over and over we try to make things right, but somewhere between the altar and the door we mess up again.
You can sense Paul’s frustration if I might do a slight parrowphrase – “ARGH!!! Who is going to deliver me from the old dead me? Who can deliver me from this stinking vicious cycle of defeat?”
Praise God there is an answer – “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” One day full deliverance is coming, one day the flesh will finally be defeated and squelched. The victory has already been accomplished. Until then we have a reckoning to do. When the stinking flesh calls out we can cry back, “Get lost – you have NO POWER over me!’
My problem? Far too often I just roll over and play dead, letting my flesh do whatever it wants.
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