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A couple weeks ago, I wrote about a young man whom I had the pleasure of bringing to Christ. I mentioned this young man’s anger and how he has a hard time controlling it.  His life circumstances have shaped the way he thinks and acts.  He wrestles with the why’s of Christianity.  Why if I am changed, do I still have bad thoughts?  Why do I still act on those sinful natures?  Am I still saved?  I don’t think the Apostle Paul is alone when he is writing Romans 7.  He is experiencing some of the same questions that we do, and he was set aside to write scripture! If Paul is asking some of these questions, then maybe it is ok if we ask them. Maybe it is how we learn to grow in our admiration of Christ redeeming work on the cross.            

I remember sitting at a football game talking to this young man’s mother after he got in more trouble after he was saved. She didn’t understand his behavior.  She told me he was starting to lose faith, but also, she told me how he had compassion for others who are in the same circumstance he is. She told me that he is praying for them. I see a person who is struggling but is beginning to get it. It is a progressive understanding of the magnitude of our sins after we become saved.            

As we go and disciple others, we have an obligation to explain to them that just because we are dead to sin and alive in Christ, doesn’t mean that sin is not around. We still must fight every day to keep our focus in Christ and not on who we were before Christ.  When we bring somebody to Christ, we have an obligation to not abandon them, but to stick with them and see them to maturity. While at the same time, never forgetting that we face the same struggles and tribulations in our own life.            

I can see examples of what the young man was going through in my own life. I see the verse, “I do not do the good things I want to do, but I do the bad things I do not want to do.” (Romans 7:19).  I so desperately want to be a good dad, a good coach, and most importantly a good servant of Christ, but I struggle with sin repeatedly. It seems like I am always do the bad and not the good.            

It is important to remember just because we come to Christ does not mean we are perfect, in-fact, it often does the opposite.  We see how imperfect we are and start to wrestle with our sin. I believe the wrestling is the key. If we ever stop wrestling, then we have something to worry about. Either we have given up on trying to be like Christ, or we think we are already like Christ, and either one is dangerous. We need to wrestle, listen, and feel the Holy Spirit moving in our life, highlighting the struggles in our own life in order to bring light to the word of God. The struggles should drive a deeper thankfulness in our heart.            

The Holy Spirit continually brings awareness over and over again to the greatness of Christ work on the cross. And we can truly be grateful in our struggles with sin and rejoice because Christ atonement was enough for a wretched, black-hearted sinner like me.