«Who will deliver me from this body that is subject to death? …God, who delivers me» (Romans 7:24, 25, NIV).
LUTHER, one of the great heroes of faith, wrote: I’m am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals.» This takes us back again to the topic we were talking about yesterday. It is well worth the trouble to continue investigating this question that is sometimes the cause of so much frustration for the Christian woman.
Do you know what happens? level of expectations we women have (about life, about others, about ourselves) is usually very high. We also apply that to what we believe conversion should do in our lives. Therefore, if after having surrendered ourselves to Christ we see that we are once again seized by thoughts, attitudes, and habits of the past, we get discouraged, believing that our way of living religion should be more perfect than what it is. That is why it is so vital to have a balanced concept of what we can expect of ourselves concerning Christianity.
As Luther implied, our hearts (that is, our habits, our ways of thinking, our sinful nature, our «flesh») exercise a great influence over our behavior. At times, not even we ourselves are conscious of this reality. Thus, the psalmist reflected: «Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults» (Psalm 19:12). Knowing that this is human nature can be of great help for us so that we do not impose demands on ourselves that are impossible to fulfill and that discourage us from following in the way of the gospel.
The Bible is very clear: not by ourselves nor with the help of the law can we reach perfection of word or action. We do not have the power to free ourselves from that which we dislike in ourselves. We are powerless to fulfill the law in a perfect way. %us, our cry should be: Lord, help me; Lord, teach me; Lord, reprimand me; Lord, guide me . . . Since sin, which has tremendous power over my decisions, dwells within me, give me Your Holy Spirit to help me move away more each day from that carnal tendency! Take me by the hand in this spiritual learning. Thank You very much for having given us Christ. My hope is based completely on the fact that «it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me’ (Galatians 2:20).