An End to Sin’s Control

Do you ever find yourself doing the very thing you don’t want to do or thinking the thought you don’t want to think? If so, you’re not alone. In chapter 7 of Romans, we find the apostle Paul struggling with sin and how to overcome it.

He wrote, “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it” (verses 19–20 NLT).

Interestingly, there’s not a single mention of the Holy Spirit in Romans 7. But in the next chapter, we can find at least 20 references to the Holy Spirit. So we see the apostle Paul trying to do things in his own strength, but then he realized there was help in the Holy Spirit. There was power available to live the life that God called him to live.

If you are a spiritual person, then you will want to do spiritual things. For instance, when a person is fit, there’s most likely a reason for that. It involves what they eat (and don’t eat), their exercise regimen, and other things they routinely do.

Now let’s apply this to our spiritual lives. Paul wrote, “God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 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” (Romans 8:3–4 NLT).

If you want to do better spiritually, then you need the help of the Holy Spirit. And the best way not to go backward is to go forward in the Holy Spirit.