Have you ever considered that your frustration with sin might be a good thing? To be sure, we don’t have to like those moments when our experience lines up with Romans 7:14-20 – those times when we don’t do what we want to do, and we hate what we do. At the same time, the frustration expressed in these verses is actually a good thing. Frustration with our sin means that we are viewing our sin correctly. It’s something that we need to cut out of our lives!
Of course, the difficulty comes when we feel like we are unable to rid ourselves of the sin we hate. That is certainly Paul’s point here. The person speaking finds himself powerless against sin. Despite his love of God’s law, sin continues its work within him. What a frustrating and depressing place to be!
Here’s what we need to realize about these moments of frustration – if we are walking with God, they are simply precursors to deliverance. You see, Paul in these verses is describing an unspiritual person, and that’s not who you are if you know Jesus. As a person who has been given the Holy Spirit, you are indeed spiritual. The key is going to be to learn to rely on the Spirit as you wrestle with your sin. Of course, this isn’t always an easy or automatic process, but the testimony of many Christians over the centuries is that God has taken a sin that once plagued them and has made it a thing of the past. The Holy Spirit brings us past our sin to a new space!
Even those temptations that are always with us like addiction must ultimately give way to victory. When Jesus returns, our bodies will be transformed into spiritual bodies that no longer have any room for sin. The end of the story is that God wins and sin loses. Not only are we forgiven, but there will come a moment when we are delivered completely from sin into a holy and righteous existence.
When you feel stuck in your sin, look to God for help. His victory is yours in Christ.