I Want to But I Don’t

Have you ever come up against that part inside of you that wants its own way contrary to the way you want to go? Have you ever had a disgusting habit you needed or wanted to break and just couldn’t do it? Have you ever tried with all your might to achieve a personal goal only to fail over and over again? Well you’re not alone and there is a solution to your dilemma. Paul talks about this very thing in Romans saying that which he wants to do he cannot do and that which he doesn’t want to do his flesh is determined to do. Let’s read that passage in Romans 7:15–25 (RSV).

“15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17 So then it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, 23 but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I of myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

I don’t know about you but there have been several things in my life that I’ve struggled with and the only answer has been God. It’s all about those little things you hope no one knows about you; those secret little things that war against you in the flesh; those things that you cry out to God for help from.

There’s a conflict between our desires and our flesh; between our sinful nature and the Spirit. It’s just the way things are—our sinful nature (our flesh) rages war in our minds. The battle field truly IS in our minds.

1 Peter 4:12–13 (RSV) says , “12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through as if something strange were happening to you. 13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.”

If we’re aware that our flesh is always going to war against our spirit in our minds then we have won half the battle. The Holy Spirit is our secret for successful daily living. If the Apostle Paul was continually at war within himself, then it’s certainly not strange for us to be going through these challenges in our own lives. Galatians 6:9 (NLT) reminds us to “………..not get tired of doing what is good” because “At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”

Paul continues in Galatians 5:16–24 (NLT), saying to let the Holy Spirit guide our lives and so we won’t be giving in to what our sinful nature craves. He confirms that the sinful nature wants to do the opposite of what the Spirit wants. He goes on to say that these two forces are constantly fighting against one another.

“16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. 19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.”

Paul lays out in verses 19-21 the result of living in “the flesh” as opposed to living in “the Spirit”, and the fruit of the route we choose shows the world which is most active in our lives; the flesh or the Spirit.

Today’s society looks at the fleshly list of sins in these verses and doesn’t understand that these are still the very same challenges even today; they don’t even see them as things they should fight against. Let’s take a closer look at what these evidences of living in the flesh are and what some of the modern day applications might be; see if you can add others:

Sexual Immorality – impurity, sensuality, adultery (inside marriage), fornication (outside marriage such as rape, incest, living together)
Impurity – see above sexual immorality
Lustful Pleasures - promiscuity, being vulgar, obscene, lewd, improper, indecent
Idolatry – excessive devotion, worship of trees, nature, stones (New Age), Buddhism, the Muslim Faith, all cultism
Sorcery – witchcraft, superstition, divination, magic, curses, spells, rebellion, palm readers, horoscopes, mystics, tarot cards, voodoo, Wicca, pagan, occult, Ouija boards, and even ‘self-help’ doctrines
Hostility – hatred, murder, ill will, antagonism, being unfriendly, animosity, bitterness, gall, aggression, resentment
Quarreling – finding fault, complaining, disputing angrily, bitter or violent conflict or contention for superiority
Jealousy/Envy – gossiping, backbiting, snide remarks, building ourselves up by degrading others, resentment, suspicion, mistrust, possessiveness, doubt, spite, discontent, putting others down
Outbursts of Anger – rage, fury, wrath, indignation, hostility, offense, road rage
Selfish Ambition – concern with ones own welfare or advantage, stingy, egotistical, inconsiderate
Dissension/Division – factions, varying viewpoints, strife, discord, disagreement, confrontation
Division – see above dissension/division
Envy – see above jealousy/envy
Drunkenness – intoxication, grogginess, tipsiness, insobriety, inebriated
Wild Parties – lacking order, orgies, behaving without restraint, uncontrolled, savage, revelries, carousing

Thank goodness while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:6) to free us from a life of sin and its consequences; not only that he gave us a way to fight against these things but also to be successful.

Ephesians 6:10–17 (NLT) sets out how we can become more and more successful in turning our backs on our “flesh” and living more in the Spirit.
“10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Isn’t it wonderful that the only instruction we have other than putting on our armor to fight against such things is to ‘Stand our Ground’? Where do we go from here? How do we get started in making the changes we desire and leaving our ‘flesh’ behind for a life led by the Spirit? The following scriptures speak for themselves:

1 Peter 5:6–11 (NLT) “6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. 8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are. 10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.”

2 Peter 1:3 (NLT), “3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT), “21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”

Romans 5:21 (NLT), “21 So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 5:11 (NLT), “11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.”

Romans 8:1-17 (NLT), “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. 5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. 9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. 12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory……………”

Romans 6 (NLT), “1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. 5Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. 12 Do not let sin control the way you live;[a] do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. 15 Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! 16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. 17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. 18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living. 19 Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. 21 And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. 22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."

So there you have it; just because we’ve been born again doesn’t mean we have a license to sin, but it means we, through the Holy Spirit, will begin to show more and more fruits of the Spirit and people will begin to see more and more changes as we mature in the Lord which means they’ll begin seeing more and more of our Lord through us.

Are we still going to goof up? Of course we will because we are part flesh and part spirit, and the scriptures showed us they are in constant battle with one another. There was only one perfect man.

Thank goodness the price has already been paid for us to have eternal life through Christ Jesus. Some of us will push forward to be the best we can be and try to gain all the fruits of the Spirit; some of us will do no more than is absolutely necessary, will still see heaven and will be content with that; then some of us may even end up totally turning our backs on the Lord even after all he has done for us, crucifying him all over again and stripping themselves of eternity in heaven. The choices and the consequences or rewards of those choices are our own.

I chose to receive God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ and am grateful he gave us the tools to fight off our flesh and the evil one. As I grow in the Lord thank goodness there will be fewer and fewer times that I’ll have to say, as Paul did, that ‘I do not do what I want’.
Shalom, Marvin and Diana

Thanks to Microsoft ClipArt for the use of the graphic.