Why Do I Keep Struggling with Sin?
Why Do I Keep Struggling with Sin?
Romans 7, the Christian Life, and the Mercy of Christ
This short prayer, often called the “Jesus Prayer,” has stayed with me for years: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I first encountered it early in ministry, never imagining how often I would still need to pray it.
Have you ever caught yourself doing the very thing you promised you would never do again?
If you have ever wondered, “Why do I keep struggling?” you are not alone. The Apostle Paul asked that question too.
The Struggle Paul Names
“For 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 with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me” (Rom 7:15–17).
Paul’s words may take a few readings to sink in, but his point is painfully familiar.
He is describing the confusing experience of doing what he knows he should not do.
Do you ever do something and ask yourself afterwards, “Now, why did I do that?”
At this point in Paul’s life, he knows what is right and wants what is right. Yet he still does what he hates.
When We Do What We Hate
Growing up, I experienced firsthand what our family called the family temper. More than once, I saw my dad bust his knuckles while turning a wrench, cuss, throw the wrench into the street, get into his vehicle, and drive over that wretched wrench. Then he would tell me, “Son, sometimes you just have to show these things who’s boss.” Young people today might call that “crashing out.”
Years later, as a father myself, I remembered what it felt like to be near those outbursts. My dad always apologized afterward, but the effects often lingered. So I was determined not to lose my temper, especially around my children. The “family temper” was not something I believed God wanted me simply to accept.
Have I always succeeded? Has becoming a pastor made the struggle disappear? No. Paul is describing a struggle even mature believers know well.
“For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” We can relate.
By the time Paul writes to the Romans, he has long since turned his life over to Christ. He desires to obey God. Yet even Paul experiences the ongoing presence of sin in his life. We can relate.
Struggle Is Not the Same as Failure
Christians have debated exactly when in Paul’s life this struggle occurs. Some believe he is describing life before Christ. Others believe he is describing the ongoing experience of a believer. But every Christian recognizes the reality of this battle: we want to honor God, and yet we still struggle with sin.
Speaking for myself, excuses are easy to find when I have blown my top: the other person’s behavior, the situation, or even the wrench. But when Paul says, “it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me,” he is not shifting blame. He is distinguishing between the new person he has become in Christ and the sinful impulses that still pull against him.
It is something like a civil war: two competing forces within the same life. Paul is exposing the depth of the battle every believer knows.
Many Christians feel discouraged when sin still shows up in their lives. I know I have. When I first became a pastor—after the schooling, Bible study, and prayer—I assumed my old flaws would simply disappear. When they did not, I wondered, “Maybe I’m not really saved after all.”
But Paul shows us that ongoing struggle is not the same as spiritual failure. This is not an excuse for sin; it is an honest recognition that the flesh still resists God.
After all, spiritually dead people do not fight sin. So when you feel that inner conflict Paul describes—wanting to do good, yet sometimes failing—the struggle itself can be evidence that God’s Spirit is at work in you.
The Desire to Do Right
“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. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me” (Rom 7:18–20).
Paul says he has the “desire to do what is right.” If you follow Jesus, you know that desire too. Yet because sin still clings to us in this fallen world, our obedience is often inconsistent and incomplete. Paul is not saying Christians cannot obey. He is describing the ongoing weakness of fallen humanity—the old nature that still resists God’s work.
Spiritual Growth Is Often Gradual
Several years ago, shortly after foot surgery, I was outside with our kids playing lawn darts—of all things.
Thankfully, they were the newer kind with a weighted ball instead of a sharp point. Still, one landed directly on my newly operated foot.
I wanted to handle it well—but I didn’t. I lost my temper, sent the kids inside crying, and sat in the yard deeply disappointed in myself.
Many believers become discouraged because they expect instant maturity. But spiritual growth is often gradual—more like a marathon than a sprint.
Where are you discouraged in your walk with Christ? Have you mistaken struggle for failure?
Who Will Deliver Me?
“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 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. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom 7:21–24).
Paul is describing the inner battle every believer faces.
He delights in God’s law, yet another law wages war within him. The tension builds until he cries, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” That question marks Paul’s turning point—and it is the truth we need to remember.
Notice what Paul does not ask. He does not ask what will deliver him. He asks who.
The answer is not greater effort. We know that temptation: “If I just try harder…” But we often exhaust ourselves trying to fix ourselves by ourselves. Paul points us instead to the only true answer.
“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7:25).
We Need a Rescuer
Before I learned to swim, I would cling to the edge of the pool, float, and kick my legs. But once, as a child in a hotel pool, I drifted away from the edge while daydreaming—and suddenly went under.
I kicked and waved my arms, but instead of reaching the surface, I kept sinking. A friend tried to help, but I pulled him down too. We were both in trouble until a couple of adults jumped in and rescued us.
Our lives are like that. A drowning person cannot save himself by trying harder. He needs a rescuer.
Many believers fight sin with more effort but little dependence on Jesus.
Victory begins not with self-reliance, but with Christ-reliance.
The Christian life is not simply “try harder.” If trying harder could save us, Jesus would never have needed to go to the cross.
Instead, the Christian life is learning to trust Christ more deeply and follow him more faithfully. As we depend on him, he changes us from the inside out.
Remember the Lord
Some may have notice the wristband I wear. It says, “Remember the Lord.” … I don’t wear it for others to notice…I wear it as a reminder to myself.
When I am in a situation where my natural tendency is to “crash out,” I pray my eye catches that wristband and I remember the Lord.
If you struggle with sin, you are not alone. Paul struggled. I struggle. Even mature Christians continue to battle sin, but that battle does not mean Jesus has abandoned you. The question is not, Do you struggle? The question is, Where are you looking for rescue?
“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Paul’s story does not end there. In the very next chapter, Romans 8, he points us to the work of the Holy Spirit, who empowers believers to live differently. I encourage you to read it.
The struggle is real, but so is God's power at work within us.
Stay in the Word daily, it will save your life.
Romans 7, the Christian Life, and the Mercy of Christ
This short prayer, often called the “Jesus Prayer,” has stayed with me for years: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I first encountered it early in ministry, never imagining how often I would still need to pray it.
Have you ever caught yourself doing the very thing you promised you would never do again?
If you have ever wondered, “Why do I keep struggling?” you are not alone. The Apostle Paul asked that question too.
The Struggle Paul Names
“For 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 with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me” (Rom 7:15–17).
Paul’s words may take a few readings to sink in, but his point is painfully familiar.
He is describing the confusing experience of doing what he knows he should not do.
Do you ever do something and ask yourself afterwards, “Now, why did I do that?”
At this point in Paul’s life, he knows what is right and wants what is right. Yet he still does what he hates.
When We Do What We Hate
Growing up, I experienced firsthand what our family called the family temper. More than once, I saw my dad bust his knuckles while turning a wrench, cuss, throw the wrench into the street, get into his vehicle, and drive over that wretched wrench. Then he would tell me, “Son, sometimes you just have to show these things who’s boss.” Young people today might call that “crashing out.”
Years later, as a father myself, I remembered what it felt like to be near those outbursts. My dad always apologized afterward, but the effects often lingered. So I was determined not to lose my temper, especially around my children. The “family temper” was not something I believed God wanted me simply to accept.
Have I always succeeded? Has becoming a pastor made the struggle disappear? No. Paul is describing a struggle even mature believers know well.
“For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” We can relate.
By the time Paul writes to the Romans, he has long since turned his life over to Christ. He desires to obey God. Yet even Paul experiences the ongoing presence of sin in his life. We can relate.
Struggle Is Not the Same as Failure
Christians have debated exactly when in Paul’s life this struggle occurs. Some believe he is describing life before Christ. Others believe he is describing the ongoing experience of a believer. But every Christian recognizes the reality of this battle: we want to honor God, and yet we still struggle with sin.
Speaking for myself, excuses are easy to find when I have blown my top: the other person’s behavior, the situation, or even the wrench. But when Paul says, “it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me,” he is not shifting blame. He is distinguishing between the new person he has become in Christ and the sinful impulses that still pull against him.
It is something like a civil war: two competing forces within the same life. Paul is exposing the depth of the battle every believer knows.
Many Christians feel discouraged when sin still shows up in their lives. I know I have. When I first became a pastor—after the schooling, Bible study, and prayer—I assumed my old flaws would simply disappear. When they did not, I wondered, “Maybe I’m not really saved after all.”
But Paul shows us that ongoing struggle is not the same as spiritual failure. This is not an excuse for sin; it is an honest recognition that the flesh still resists God.
After all, spiritually dead people do not fight sin. So when you feel that inner conflict Paul describes—wanting to do good, yet sometimes failing—the struggle itself can be evidence that God’s Spirit is at work in you.
The Desire to Do Right
“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. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me” (Rom 7:18–20).
Paul says he has the “desire to do what is right.” If you follow Jesus, you know that desire too. Yet because sin still clings to us in this fallen world, our obedience is often inconsistent and incomplete. Paul is not saying Christians cannot obey. He is describing the ongoing weakness of fallen humanity—the old nature that still resists God’s work.
Spiritual Growth Is Often Gradual
Several years ago, shortly after foot surgery, I was outside with our kids playing lawn darts—of all things.
Thankfully, they were the newer kind with a weighted ball instead of a sharp point. Still, one landed directly on my newly operated foot.
I wanted to handle it well—but I didn’t. I lost my temper, sent the kids inside crying, and sat in the yard deeply disappointed in myself.
Many believers become discouraged because they expect instant maturity. But spiritual growth is often gradual—more like a marathon than a sprint.
Where are you discouraged in your walk with Christ? Have you mistaken struggle for failure?
Who Will Deliver Me?
“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 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. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom 7:21–24).
Paul is describing the inner battle every believer faces.
He delights in God’s law, yet another law wages war within him. The tension builds until he cries, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” That question marks Paul’s turning point—and it is the truth we need to remember.
Notice what Paul does not ask. He does not ask what will deliver him. He asks who.
The answer is not greater effort. We know that temptation: “If I just try harder…” But we often exhaust ourselves trying to fix ourselves by ourselves. Paul points us instead to the only true answer.
“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7:25).
We Need a Rescuer
Before I learned to swim, I would cling to the edge of the pool, float, and kick my legs. But once, as a child in a hotel pool, I drifted away from the edge while daydreaming—and suddenly went under.
I kicked and waved my arms, but instead of reaching the surface, I kept sinking. A friend tried to help, but I pulled him down too. We were both in trouble until a couple of adults jumped in and rescued us.
Our lives are like that. A drowning person cannot save himself by trying harder. He needs a rescuer.
Many believers fight sin with more effort but little dependence on Jesus.
Victory begins not with self-reliance, but with Christ-reliance.
The Christian life is not simply “try harder.” If trying harder could save us, Jesus would never have needed to go to the cross.
Instead, the Christian life is learning to trust Christ more deeply and follow him more faithfully. As we depend on him, he changes us from the inside out.
Remember the Lord
Some may have notice the wristband I wear. It says, “Remember the Lord.” … I don’t wear it for others to notice…I wear it as a reminder to myself.
When I am in a situation where my natural tendency is to “crash out,” I pray my eye catches that wristband and I remember the Lord.
If you struggle with sin, you are not alone. Paul struggled. I struggle. Even mature Christians continue to battle sin, but that battle does not mean Jesus has abandoned you. The question is not, Do you struggle? The question is, Where are you looking for rescue?
“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Paul’s story does not end there. In the very next chapter, Romans 8, he points us to the work of the Holy Spirit, who empowers believers to live differently. I encourage you to read it.
The struggle is real, but so is God's power at work within us.
Stay in the Word daily, it will save your life.
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