THE INNER CONFLICT

Do you ever feel like you don’t deserve God’s grace?

Along the way in life, in the face of the extravagant grace God offers us, you and I often struggle to honour God. We struggle to lay down our selfishness and sin and all that rubbish; and that can be so discouraging. We get the feeling, “I’m just so unworthy of this grace!”

This feeling of unworthiness causes so many people to drift away from God. But one of the top lies the devil wants you to believe is that there’s no way back.

Let’s spend some time looking at a man who found himself in a similar position, wrestling with his own sinfulness in the face of grace. 

Paul wrote about the inner conflict that can tear us apart – a conflict between our sinful nature, and our knowledge of God’s love and grace. In Romans, Paul describes his feelings:

“So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (Romans 7:21-24)

Everybody who puts their faith in Jesus faces this same dilemma. The flesh, the old person, just doesn’t seem to die!

But if you believe in Jesus, the truth is that your old self has died – it was put to death on the cross with Jesus. 

Of course, some days we struggle to recognise this, and so we drown in feelings of unworthiness. But we must not let our own guilty feelings separate us from God’s love. Although we may stumble and sin and struggle to recognise and accept grace, we can find encouragement in Paul’s words:

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)

The conflict is won when we fling ourselves on God’s grace, and trust that He will save us.

LIFE APPLICATION QUESTIONS 

1. How does it make you feel that the Apostle Paul had the same problem that you do with sin?  
2. Read Romans 7:14-25. What is God saying to you? 
3. Now, turn to Hebrews 4:14-16. How do you feel about the throne of grace described in these verses?  
4. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak God’s grace into your heart, in a way that it will always be there to remind and encourage you of the power of grace over sin.