The Battle With Sin

A soul under the power of conviction from the law is pressed to fight against sin, but he has no strength for the battle. He must fight, but he can never conquer. He is like a man who thrusts himself on the sword of the enemy on purpose to be slain. The law drives him on, and then sin beats him back. Sometimes he thinks he has foiled sin, but he has only raised a dust, so that he cannot see the sin. He stirs up his natural affections of fear, sorrow, and anguish, and this makes him believe that sin is conquered when it is not even touched. He soon must be at the battle again, and the lust which he thought to be slain is seen to be not even wounded.

~ John Owen

It is quite a sad state that I find myself in. I am constantly fighting with this man who is determined to get the best of me and never let go. His choices of weapon are temptation, lust, and guilt. He comes at me with a ruthless assault determined to knock me down and keep me down. I have known this man for quite some time, for my whole life as a matter of fact. His place of residence is in the depths of my heart, soul, and mind. I have tried everything in my power to defeat this foe...I have prayed, gone to church, been religious, and have done everything I can to do the right thing. But alas, it has all been for naught. I cannot win. With every seeming victory, the enemy comes back at me with a barrage of attacks at my character and my supposed righteousness. He whispers softly in my ear, "You're a liar. You're a cheat. You're a thief. You're an adulterer. You're a murderer." How can I argue with this? He is right. I am all of those things and then some. I am defenseless and powerless against this savvy, old man.

Thank God someone has gone to battle for me. He accomplished what I never could. The enemy has no answer for His power. In Him there is no weakness. In Him there is no guilt. In Him, no imperfection is found. On a day that started out as any other, He changed the world forever. He was tried unjustly, sentenced to death unfairly, beaten endlessly, spat upon disrespectfully, humiliated pubicly, tortured mercilessly, and met death on a cross maliciously. How did this change the world? This isn't triumphant. This is death. This is defeat in all it's finality. The battle is seemingly lost, but ah, the war has been won. Sin no longer has power and death has lost it's sting. "Victory is mine!" exclaims the risen Savior! The grave could not contain Him and He has set the captives free. The very law that condemned me has been fulfilled to the fullest extent in this Man, the Christ, the Son of God. I no longer live, but the very power of this Jesus lives inside me! How thankful I am for the grace and peace given to me by my LORD, my Master, my All In All, my Everything, my Savior.

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. - Romans 6:6