The way my sinful nature struggles to get hold of me breaks my heart, over and over again. My sin breaks my heart, and I hope that won't change. Sure, I got a new nature through Christ, but I will never arrive at the point where I'm done and perfect; not here on earth. Until then I will remain broken. God is close to those who have a broken and contrite heart. To me, brokenness is a good thing. It doesn't equate being defeated, but rather realizing my dependency upon God.
This was Ken's response to her ~
I fully understand your Romans 7 struggle with your old nature. I lived there for too many years and it was a comfortable place sensing God's grace and mercy, yet a frustrating place of knowing hundreds of God's promises yet rarely seeing them come true in my life.
Our movement from the wilderness of life into God's promises came when we began to realize that God by His very nature could not make promises unless they could come true in our lives. To recognize that if God's promises were not coming true, it was most likely my failings, not the failings of the power of His Word.
If you want to move from those sins that "continually beset you" and move from a place of brokenness where God can stand you on your feet and you can say with Him, "I am a child of God, a saint, who is dead to sin, freed from sin and alive in Christ Jesus," then you can only get there by believing what God has already done for you. One cannot try harder to not sin and find any significant change, but one can begin to recognize who they are in Christ and say, "I do not do those things anymore because Christ has set me free from sin and brokenness."
I think there are many like you who somehow feel that they disrespect God if they do not stay broken and contrite, and yet the overwhelming weight of the New Covenant Scriptures tells us to focus upon what God has now done for us instead of wallowing in our past or present sins. You do not want your child to think of him/herself as unworthy, sinful, and unable to overcome their weaknesses. You instead want your child to never forget God's mercy and where they came from, but to step out by faith into the new life of all of God's promises. God wants the same for us, and tells us so ~
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, ... so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."
Our movement from the wilderness of life into God's promises came when we began to realize that God by His very nature could not make promises unless they could come true in our lives. To recognize that if God's promises were not coming true, it was most likely my failings, not the failings of the power of His Word.
If you want to move from those sins that "continually beset you" and move from a place of brokenness where God can stand you on your feet and you can say with Him, "I am a child of God, a saint, who is dead to sin, freed from sin and alive in Christ Jesus," then you can only get there by believing what God has already done for you. One cannot try harder to not sin and find any significant change, but one can begin to recognize who they are in Christ and say, "I do not do those things anymore because Christ has set me free from sin and brokenness."
I think there are many like you who somehow feel that they disrespect God if they do not stay broken and contrite, and yet the overwhelming weight of the New Covenant Scriptures tells us to focus upon what God has now done for us instead of wallowing in our past or present sins. You do not want your child to think of him/herself as unworthy, sinful, and unable to overcome their weaknesses. You instead want your child to never forget God's mercy and where they came from, but to step out by faith into the new life of all of God's promises. God wants the same for us, and tells us so ~
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, ... so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."
{Heb 5:12-14: - 6:1, 12}
If one struggles to believe God's promises can come true in their life today, they can instead become obedient to God's commands to eat the solid food that leads to righteous living. It's just easier and more fun to live with God by way of promise than by command. That is the difference between the Old and New Covenants. We have a New Heart, we have the Spirit and person of Christ living within us. Let us not call Him impotent to help us overcome our sin and failings.
Therefore, we worship Him in humble adoration for all He has done!
If one struggles to believe God's promises can come true in their life today, they can instead become obedient to God's commands to eat the solid food that leads to righteous living. It's just easier and more fun to live with God by way of promise than by command. That is the difference between the Old and New Covenants. We have a New Heart, we have the Spirit and person of Christ living within us. Let us not call Him impotent to help us overcome our sin and failings.
Therefore, we worship Him in humble adoration for all He has done!
