I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. -- Romans 7:15 NIV
Boy, can I empathize with Paul on this! I can tell myself I don't need to do something and oops! there I go. Doing just that.
Take chocolate. Please. I'm a self-avowed chocoholic. Well, a slightly picky one - I like pure chocolate not all that stuff added. It's bad for my blood sugar (Type 2 Diabetes controlled without meds), and it's downright nasty to my hips, I tell myself. Maybe I can just cut back. Then there's a sale on Lindt or Hersheys...
Take sin.
I can tell myself I won't do [whatever - name your favourite] but I can be around it. Others can do it but I won't. Wrong! Being around the opportunity of sin, and telling myself I won't, justs sets me up for failure. Seeing, hearing, all those pesky senses are drilling right into our minds.
I'll tell myself I'll stop, later. Later's my goal, just not right now. Wrong! I don't know about you, but "later" is always in the future for me.
What I want to do is stop. But I'm not doing what my spirit wants me to do, I'm doing what the cravings of my body (and mind) want me to. I talk myself out of going "cold turkey" even though I know that's often the only way for me. I talk myself in "weaning off." Once more, wrong!
Obviously, I can't do this alone. Some things I've been working on for decades. But I've often left untouched the greatest help in doing what is right, not wrong: the Holy Spirit. GOD can do all things and the Holy Spirit is GOD.
Holy Spirit, help me make later today and know a little is often too much. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen
