
I think I try to force things.
I try to make things go my way.
I work to manipulate everything and am surprised when people won’t follow me.
Is it arrogance to act like this?
Yes, it is.
It is my twisted human nature in control.
I wish I were different because I have very little desire to cooperate.
I need to cooperate
Yet, I don’t want to cooperate.
Do you ever feel this way?
Audio:
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A few of us sat in a booth at a nearby restaurant, drinking coffee and talking. We talked about a lot of things: our kids, our work, our lousy football team and also our faith in Jesus. The question came up about why we have so much trouble behaving like we want to? You know what I mean, behaving like we know we ought to? It’s a battle.
You’ve probably read this yourself, in Romans the Apostle Paul writes about this fight, this “want to versus unfulfilled desire”. Paul discusses our situation; it comes near the end of Romans 7 and maybe the first half of Romans 8. This lifelong battle is relentless and never-ending. I feel the conflict everyday. I deal with the tension everyday. Is this a bad thing?
Our small coffee group concluded “no it isn’t necessarily a “bad” thing.” It isn’t necessarily a bad thing because in the struggle to behave better is also an opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit to successfully work in us. We further concluded that the best thing to do is be willingly cooperate with God.
But, of course, cooperating with God isn’t what happens automatically. First we have to decide that we want to cooperate with God and further, we have to take responsibility for our delinquent behavior. Then when we refuse to go along with (whatever the) temptation and continually cooperate with God’s Holy Spirit we’ll come into contact with some favorable results.
During our coffee time, I realized that I’m not stuck in my rotten behavior unless I choose to be. Thanks
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