Thursday, January 27, 2011

Confused Duality

Sinful is what I am. A sinner is what I have been; a sinner is what I will be. Though I press at every fold of all of my flesh sin still remains so entwined with my very being that I cannot escape it. I rant and I rave, I ache and I cry, I fight and I scream but I remain so very much within me.

All I do will not help my plight. All my stabbing at a spiritual foe will not make him die. I cannot kill him. Thank God.

I cannot kill him, thank God. I cannot slay my archenemy, thank God. I cannot take him behind the shed and bloody his lip, thank God. It’s already been done.

The fight has been fought. The killer has been killed. His lip has been bloodied. The battle has been won.

Then why is the struggle so very apparent? If the fight has already been finished then why is all of life called a ‘fight’? Why does every moment feel like a desperate tooth and nail battle?

Because this enemy is so entrenched within our being there is much fighting to be fought before the war is over. The decisive battle is over, like Normandy in World War II, the enemy is defeated but it is the downhill slope within which the enemy fights fiercer than ever. But this battle is against ourselves.

“My enemy and I are one and the same. (Brooke Fraser)”

All of Romans 7 speaks to this duality of a Christian’s nature. Where one side yells, “I am redeemed by the blood of Jesus!” and the other screams in defiance, “It’s my life! MINE!”

Welcome to the Christian life oh Christian. Welcome to the fight. The battle will be exhausting, the tears numerous, the pain intense, but the Reward will be worth it. The glory of God in the face of Jesus.

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