Inner Conflict

Inner Conflict

What is this conflict I seem to have within myself?

God’s Response

I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. . . . When I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. . . . I love God’s law . . . but there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Romans 7:15, 19, 22-24

Christians struggle daily with inner conflict. We have given our lives to Christ, but the old human nature still exists. We know the attitudes and behavior that Christ desires, but we also know how hard it is to live that way all the time. We wrestle with our desire to sin, to do what we want at the expense of others, to think more of ourselves than of others, to give in to temptation. There is a constant conflict going on within us. Ironically, good can come from this kind of conflict. It shows that our conscience is still sensitive to sin, and that we truly desire to do what is right. If there were no such struggle going on within you, it could indicate that you were too accepting of sin in your life.

God’s Promise

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you! Isaiah 26:3