We Can't (He Can)

The other day, my five year old daughter spoke in a not so kind way to her brothers. It happens every day that my kids speak unkindly to each other, so it wasn't shocking. When I punished her, she spoke unkindly to me. She kept digging a hole, and she wouldn't stop. Finally, after much sin, she broke. When she did, she admitted through sobs, "Momma, I try to be good every day. I try so hard, but I just can't do it. Please tell me what to do. I don't know how to be good all by myself! Teach me how, Momma!"

Then, I couldn't help myself. I cried with her because I know she's right. She can't be good. I can't either. I do the same thing. I try to be good, but I fail. I try to speak gently to my children, but I wind up losing my temper. I try to keep from criticizing little things my husband does, and I find a way to say something about them even if it's in jest. I try to spend more time with God, but I wind up wasting time on the internet. I fail royally. I am no good. Like my daughter, I don't know how to be good. I dig a deep hole and sit in it, and it's much deeper than hers.

Paul felt a similar frustration too. In Romans 7, he writes: 

 ¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Paul said that he does what he hates. Surely, we all relate to him. Our members wage war against each other on a daily basis, but there's hope! Sweet hope! God will deliver us from this body of death once and for all. As much as sin displeases God, the presence of hated sin in our lives and the daily struggle we face is two fold:

1) It makes us thankful for and dependent on His grace. We remember where we were before we became believers, and we thank God for the spiritual growth. We can see evidence that we have overcome past sins. Even though sin doesn't stop after we become believers because our flesh is still alive and well, we have hope to overcome it. We can rely on His strength to succeed and His grace when we fail miserably.
2) It keeps us focused on heaven. We become Kingdom minded. We know we will be delivered from sin once and for all. And we long for that day.

I told my precious daughter through tears, "You're right. You can't. I can't." I asked her, "Whom should we ask for help?" She immediately replied with a knowing smile, "God. God will help us be good, Momma." She's right again. God bless that amazing baby girl for being such a little minster to my heart.