Willing but Weak

My family and I spent part of our evening trying to unpack Romans 7-9. In these chapters, Paul continues teaching about the law and justice, and some parts of it were easier to understand than others. One part that I understood a bit too well was when he talked about his struggle against what he called "sin that dwelleth in me" (Romans 7:20). His struggle, though awkwardly worded, is fairly common among those who try to follow Christ. The natural man is a part of each of us, and it resists many aspects of righteousness and tempts people towards certain sins, putting otherwise righteous people at odds with themselves. Our hearts and minds want to be righteous, but our bodies want to sin. Thus, self-mastery is a goal that many of us strive for, so we can keep our bodies under the control of our spirits.

Naturally, we don't always succeed at this, and apparently Paul didn't either. Thankfully, I have it on high authority that God judges people, not so much by their bodies, but more by their hearts (1 Samuel 16:7). Of course, God judges us by our actions as well, but Paul seems to suggest that, as long as we're trying to be righteous, God won't judge us too harshly when we slip up.

What's important is that we try to be righteous. We need to try to behave righteously and maintain control of ourselves. As long as we are trying to keep the commandments, the weaknesses that hold us back won't be held against us, or at least, I hope they won't. God is certainly concerned with whether or not we try to keep His commandments, but I'm less sure how much He cares whether or not we succeed. As long as we are willing to obey Him, I don't think He cares much if we, on our own, are too weak to do so.