For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For 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 that dwells within me.
~ Romans 7:14-20
Even Paul, who was dramatically converted when personally called by Jesus and who wrote a huge chunk of the New Testament, said he did evil that he didn’t want to do. The sin that dwelled within him did the evil he didn’t want rather than the good that he did want. How true that is of all of us! We want to do what is right, but in our own power we cannot. That is why we need a Savior.
Lord God, I want to do Your will, but the sin within me does the wrong I don’t want to do. I am unable to help myself. I know I need a Savior who is stronger and more powerful than the sin that dwells in me. In the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
These daily devotions are available in a book The Grace of God, with all profits donated to Love for the Least to share the compassion of Christ with an unreached world. L4L shares the Good News of the Gospel with the least and unreached by making disciples of Jesus who make disciples (2 Tim 2:2) and by helping to meet the physical needs of the poorest of the poor.