Why Am I Like This?


Well, the Super Bowl is over and my team lost. So, I will be on football withdrawal until next August when the only team worth watching, The Big Orange kick it off again! That being said, have you ever asked yourself the above question? You know how it goes, you will do something dumb or you will slip up and do something you shouldn't and before long you'll be kicking yourself and asking yourself the above over and over. Right?


I had conversations with two different people this week and they both posed that same, identical question. Exact same words.. everything alike. WHY AM I LIKE THIS? Both were beating themselves up over the fact that they had fallen short this week. How could I be so stupid? I can't believe I did that! Sound familiar? It certainly does to me. All I could say was "Welcome to the club." I have said this before and I will say it again. The truest words ever spoken to me outside of Holy Scripture were these,"There are two kinds of people in this world, the caught and the uncaught, everybody's guilty." You know it's at these times, when we've failed, that the devil will perch himself on our shoulder and start whispering in our ear. Many a time I have sat and not only beat myself up but have listened to the enemy agree with me by telling me how sorry I was and how could I call myself a Christian and do something like that. Amen? As I sat and listened to these folks this week, my mind went to the seventh chapter of Romans:


14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
Romans 7:14-25 (NASB)


This passage of scripture is my message today. That answers the question why we are like we are. Allow me a couple of observations before I go. The devil will tell you that God doesn't love you, and you're not really saved etc., etc., blah, blah blah. But, the Bible says that if you believe in the Lord Jesus you are saved. The problem of yours and everybody else's sin, past,present and future was dealt with at Calvary. The Lord Jesus Christ paid the price for every sin that you and I have ever committed or will ever commit.Amen? IT IS FINISHED. PAID IN FULL.


30 Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, " It is finished!" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
John 19:29-30 (NASB)


Your eternal life is just that.. ETERNAL. Never ending. God doesn't take it away ever time you or I fall short. Keep that truth in your heart. Read the last two verses of Romans 8. Sin is not even mentioned. It has been dealt a death blow through the Cross. BUT, there is a battle raging within your body. Read Romans again. Your flesh is waging a war against your spirit and your mind. That's how the enemy slips his two cents worth in. he will tempt your flesh and do nothing but accuse you. But, listen to me God is not waiting on you to screw up so He can zap you. On the contrary, He wants us to lean on Him and yield to Him in our times of weakness and He has said He will deliver us from ourselves. It may take a while but if we will continue to trust Him we will get there. But, and let this sink in. He loves you and is not condemning you when you fail.


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


No ifs ands or buts. Its that simple. NO CONDEMNATION!


1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; 3 Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; 4 Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;

Psalms 103:1-4 (NASB)


God Bless