Have you ever felt like you were being pulled in different directions, wanting to do the right thing but giving into temptation instead? You’re not alone. Verse 25 tells us that even the Apostle Paul went through this. In fact, this sort of division is inevitable for anyone who follows Jesus.

Think about it. While you were still living in sin, you may have been miserable because of the consequences of your actions, but you weren’t divided in heart and mind. You did what you wanted to do, what felt good and what made sense to you. And all those things were sinful, meaning that they kept you apart from God.

But once you have turned around, once you have begun to follow Jesus, now all those old desires are pulling you in a different direction from where you want to go. Yes, verse 2 says we have been set free from the law of sin and death, but those things can still deceive us and seduce us, stealing our attention from our Savior.

So, how do we fight against this division? In the first place, we need to remember that, no matter how it may seem to us, and no matter how we may feel, the battle is in fact over. Christ has set us free. Christ has condemned sin by dying for us. No matter how strong our temptations may seem, we are, in fact, no longer obligated to give into them.

Moreover, we need to remember that regardless of what we may have done, all those who are trusting in Christ are, in fact, forgiven. There is no longer any condemnation for us because Jesus has already paid the penalty for every one of our sinful thoughts, actions, and feelings, in the past, present and future.

But given that Christ has freed us and forgiven us, that’s all the more reason why we should walk according to the Spirit of Christ Who lives within each one of us. For if we belong to Christ, and if He will never let us go, the only way to get rid of the division in our hearts and minds is to surrender more and more of ourselves to Him, living more consistently in line with His good and perfect will for us. And why shouldn’t we want to live for the One Who has loved us so much?

Romans 7:24-8:4 (ESV)

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.