Sun 9:30a Class; 10:30a Worship; 11:35a Communion
Bible Bites
The Struggle Is Real
The dictionary says to struggle means “to proceed with difficulty or great effort.” As a noun, a struggle is “an act of strong motivated striving.” Both of those probably sound familiar to many of us. They do to me.
I struggle with being a good person. I struggle with being a good husband, neighbor, friend, and Christian example. I don’t always say the right things. I don’t always do the right things. I don’t always do what I know I should or even what I say I will do. It’s not that I want to fail. I just do fail. And that causes more struggle. And all of that sounds familiar…
“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 dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:18-24)
In Paul’s struggle, which sounds like the struggles of many people’s day-to-day lives, he asks an important question: “Who will deliver me?” Thankfully, he also tells us the answer: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself will serve the law of God with my mind” (Rom. 7:25). Thankfully, there is hope. Through Jesus, I can overcome my struggles.
It is important to remember when we are lost in the struggle of life that God loves and cares for us (1 Pet. 5:7). He wants to helps us win the struggle. Satan tries his hardest to distract us, but we have to focus on the fact that God is on our side. He wants us to overcome.
As the struggle of life relentlessly marches this week, cling to God. Ask the Savior to help you. He will carry you through.
