WHY DO I DO WHAT I HATE?

In his letter to the Roman church, the apostle Paul wrote, “for what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not doing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate… For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 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.” (Romans 7:15, Romans 7:19-20)

Like Paul, myself and, many others, struggle with our rebellious natures.
When we fail, we think that we cannot live up to the expectations of God’s laws. We think, ” it’s impossible to do the things that we should do;
Because we do the very things we hate and know are wrong.
And when we mess up, we can often grow weary, and beat ourselves up!
We feel defeated and hopeless and that’s when the evil one whispers in our ear saying, “You’re terrible, worthless and you can’t measure up!”
That could be no further from the truth!
The truth is that, you’re now perfect in God’s eyes by the power of the cross and through the blood of Jesus.

What Does it mean,  ‘What I Want to Do, I Do Not Do, but What I Hate, I Do?

Even a Christian as, mature as Paul felt as we do.
He understood that just because we love God and desire to be like Jesus, we still fall short.  Paul went so far as to call himself the “chief of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15) and a “wretched man” (Romans 7:24), recognizing that, though God’s way is spiritual, he was not (Romans 7:14).
We all make mistakes and we all sin. We are at constant war with our old, sinful nature and the deceiver, which is fighting to reclaim his place of influence in our lives.

We will never be perfect in this world, if we could achieve perfection, Jesus wouldn’t have had to sacrifice himself for our sins.

His grace is sufficient for all.
The evil one, would have you believe that you’re just not good enough so why try; however, Jesus said, repeat and I’ll forgive you.
That’s it, it’s that easy; however, it must be sincere.

So, don’t beat yourself up. It’s okay to be human.
Remember that we are spiritual beings having a human experience.

I believe that’s why Jesus had said this. “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.” (John 8:7)

This also, in Matthew 7, is a confirmation of His understanding of our weaknesses; moreover, His unconditional love for us.

Matthew 7:1-5
[1] Judge not, that ye be not judged.
[2] For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
[3] And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
[4] Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
[5] Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.