DISCOURAGEMENT WITH SELF

If you are like me, you probably become very discouraged with yourself. You had had higher expectations of what it means to be a new creation in Christ. I did too. That’s why discouragement sometimes takes over. I look inside myself, and I am disgusted by what I find.

But is the real me the ugly things I find inside myself? Not according to Paul! Instead, he taught that what we find are the remnants of sin within, something we now find abhorrent:

·       So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. (Romans 7:17-20 ESV; also 1 Corinthians 6:7-11)

Notice, that Paul made a distinction between the real Paul and the indwelling sin. The real Paul wanted to honor the Lord but, because of sin, lacks the ability and understanding to do so.

You might argue that this description only describes the Paul who had been under the law, and that we should now be doing better.

While I believe that there is truth in this, we need to also observe how Paul described his experience in Christ:

·       Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:24-25; Galatians 5:17)

The flesh, as opposed to the real me, continues to serve sin. Although in Christ, he is now liberated from the domination of sin through its deceptiveness (Romans 7:11), he still had to contend against the power of sin lodged in the flesh.

This is now our struggle. While we want to remain faithful to our Savior, we still struggle against the temptation of sin, but it’s no longer we who sin but the sin that dwells within. Consequently, we are a new creation in the real me.

How then should we regard the ugly and discouraging desires we see within? They are no longer me. I reject them and disown them (Galatians 5:24), although I am still responsible for them. They are like a pit bull I have on my leash. The dog is not me, but I am responsible if I allow it to bite someone.

How do we explain this tension which has become our norm? God hasn’t yet completed His work in our lives. He has merely made a beachhead:

·       And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? (Romans 8:23-24)

We do not yet see who we shall be, let alone, who we now are, but when He returns for us, we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2).