O wretched man that I am

I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 
I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.  – Romans 7.21-25

How do we respond honestly to the terrible truth that we do the things we don’t want to do and we don’t do the things we ought to do and want to do?

Paul nailed it – he said what needed to be said, ‘O wretched man that I am…’ It is a wretched thing to be caught in that trap when you just can’t see to get it right and move on. It is defeating and discouraging and disappointing and depressing to never seem to ‘get the victory.’

So yes, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

Thankfully there is an answer – I thank God, I can be delivered through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I am not bound to continue this cycle of doing what I don’t want and not doing what I do. The answer is Christ in me. Jesus, and Jesus alone can deliver me from this body of death and defeat sin within me.

Now, if I could just yield to Him and stop trying to fight it on my own.