“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 that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.” Romans 7:15-20
How many times have you had to stand before God asking for Mercy, all the time knowing the sins you’ve committed were ones you knew and could have (should have) never committed? How many times has a temptation loomed before you, transparent of the sin it tempted? Yet, you walked into the sun anyway.
St. Paul clearly speaks of the lower faculties of man in Romans 7:15-20. Why is it that I still commit those sins of the flesh and mind even when I know they are sins into which I am freely walking? It seems like a instance of trying. To get through a brick wall by walking into it over and over. Never noticing the doorway within easy reach.
We allow our lower self control and reign over the higher being because we lack discipline and because we live in the moment. What’s wrong with living in the moment? Is that what God asks of us in trusting Him? Yes, but in our life we need to live for eternity. On the church wall outside the apartment Karol Wojtyla grew up in is written “time flies, eternity awaits.” These words inspired this young man to grow beyond his human limitations. They should inspire us to do the same.
When we stop looking at life within the constraints of earthly life and start seeing life as eternal, all things change. In this reality, we will be living either for hell or Heaven, not the joys or pains of the world. We begin to transcend and develop a grander outlook on life. The unreasonable moods and feelings of this life are broken as God shows us the glorious goal He has in store for us. It is then that we fight and resist sin and the lead of our lower self. We disregard the temptations and sins because we see eternity for all it is.
You are free in Christ Jesus.
Stop doing the wrong things and start aspiring for higher things. Eternity WITH God.