The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans chapter 7 that he waged a war with himself. In Paul’s day, the battle of self-control was not a new concept by any means. Solomon wrote of this in Proverbs.

Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city. – Proverbs 16:32

We know of course that the battle of self-control is a universal human condition that is not confined to Judeo-Christian Scriptures and writings! About four centuries after Solomon, Plato wrote of this as the war against oneself. In his Socratic discourses, Laws, Book I, Plato asserted that victory over oneself was superior to victory in war or battle, while self-defeat was both “the worst and the most shameful” defeat. We may ascertain the moral implications of self-defeat from such sins as unholy wrath, violence, hatred, profanity, impurity, intemperance, immorality, dishonesty, graft, self-indulgence in myriad ways, and the more “socially acceptable” indulgences such as gossip, complaining, and even worry. The long list of our potential self-defeating sins, which goes beyond what I’ve only begun to name, suggests that we have a sin problem that even the best of men and women struggle to keep in check.

Even the Apostle Paul struggled, writing to the church at Rome that although his mind wanted to do right, his sinful nature would at times get the better of him. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! – Romans 7:19-25

As humans, the wiser of us crave deliverance from the sin that wages war against our minds; more so, as Christians in love with God’s moral code of conduct in His Holy Book, we long for deliverance from the sin that wages war against our mortal body and wrestles against our spiritual being. We cannot win this war alone, which is one reason why God has given us His Holy Spirit to resist temptation.

11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. 12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. – Romans 8:11-13

Now Paul, of course, was writing about spiritual life and death, just as Jesus claimed in John 11:25, when our Lord said, “He who believes in Me will live, even if He dies.” Our spiritual living, even though we die, is our resurrection, just as Jesus said in the same passage, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Yet with faith, our active belief and trust in Christ, we are able by the promised Holy Spirit in us to go about putting to death the sinful deeds of the body. Therefore, Paul and we the faithful can say, “Thanks be to God who delivers us through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 7:25).

Do you have trials and temptations, as the hymn says? Then “Take it to the Lord in prayer.” Do not fight the battle for self-control alone. We have the promised Holy Spirit within us who came to our aid the moment we first professed Christ as our Savior. As the Apostle Peter said, the promised Holy Spirit “is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39). Now this is how we know the Spirit of God is in us: by how we live our life according to the Word of God. Check yourself against His Holy Book. This is a beginning to see the evidence of Christ in us: Galatians 5:22-23, which says “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

We put to death those evil deeds and desires on a daily basis, even as we take up our cross (Matthew 16:24). Paul wrote to the Colossians that they “died,” and their life was “hidden with Christ in God,” so that they, therefore, could put to death their earthly nature (sin), while Christ was their life (Colossians 3:3-5). How then is our life “hidden with Christ in God?” Perhaps you have heard the hymn, “He Hideth My Soul.” Jesus is our strength, and He covers us as we stand behind His greatness, a bulwark against the wiles of the devil. We do not stand alone against the forces of evil, but as Michael the archangel said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you” (Jude 9). Satan the accuser fights against us to use our own sinful past to weaken our faith, and by all accounts we are not worthy for salvation, and not worthy to stand before the Lord’s throne of grace, and yet by the grace of God who has redeemed us, we do not stand by our own power, but rather, we stand by the power of the cross and the risen Savior. Therefore, we stand in the power of the resurrection of our Lord. We overcome the evil one “by the blood of the Lamb,” Jesus, and by “the word of [our] testimony” (Revelation 12:11). When we deny ourselves according to Matthew 16:24, we become dead to self, but alive to Christ. Is your life “hidden with Christ in God?” Ask yourself: Is Christ your life? Where do you focus your attention each day? Just as your thoughts govern your actions, then your thoughts of Christ will fill up your mind and your actions. “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

By the power of the cross and our risen Christ, whose testimony is sure and whose promised deliverance is our steadfast hope, the Lord bless your spirit with His Holy Spirit within you. Amen.