Everyday it seems that the struggle in my heart over good and evil gets more intense. Is there a remedy for this? I believe that I am saved but the struggle seems to be getting more and more acute (nothing illegal or harmful just immoral in light of God’s Word). Could this be a sign that I’m on the right track or is it a sign that I may not be saved after all?
In Romans 7:14-25 Paul in effect lamented that the harder he tried to defeat the sin in his body, the more often he failed. He realized that he could never be free of it as long as sin lived within him.
So it is with us. As long as we’re in our natural states we’ll be sinners. We walk a narrow line between permissiveness and obsessiveness, with neither extreme being either right or godly. We long to behave in a manner that pleases God and continually fall short of the mark.
As we become more aware of the gap between the perfection required by the Law and the imperfection of our own behavior we become more conscious of our sinfulness. It’s a sign of our growing maturity in the faith. Paul said this was the law’s purpose; to make us conscious of sin (Romans 3:20) and of our need for a Savior.
When we turned to the cross and cleansed ourselves in the blood that was shed for us there, the sins of our life were forgiven (Colossians 2:13-14). We were set free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2), and our inheritance was guaranteed (Ephesians 1:13-14).
Now we are free to live in a manner pleasing to God knowing that our shortcomings will not be counted against us (Romans 7:20). Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:25).