Just As I Am

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, 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: When 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 the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:15-25)

St. Paul is saying this. If he struggles with sin, surely we do, too.

Our struggle with sin is not a past event; it is a present reality. We know god’s will and desire to serve Him, but we cannot overcome sin. Even if we try, we fail. We cry out, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” There is only one answer: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Jesus rescues us. Though we sin daily, He continues to forgive and restore us.

The Lord accepts us just as we are – sinners who struggle with sin. He accepts us and makes us what we do not deserve to be – His sanctified saints.

We pray: “Lord Jesus, I love you. Lead me in daily repentance. Forgive my sin and strengthen my faith. By your Spirit, rescue me. Amen.”

A little bit of Luther on the sin living inside us from the Smalcald Articles Part III Article III.

In the same way Paul also preaches in Romans 3:10-12: There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. And in Acts 17:30: [God] now commands all people everywhere to repent. “All people,” he says. No one is excepted who is a human. This repentance teaches us to recognize sin. That is, that we are altogether lost, and that there is nothing good in us from head to foot, and that we must absolutely become new and different people.

This repentance is not piecemeal and beggarly, like that which does penance for actual sins. Nor is it uncertain like that. For it does not debate what is or is not sin. It throws everything out, and says: Everything in us is nothing but sin. What is the use of investigating, dividing, or distinguishing at length? For this reason, too, such contrition is certain. For there is nothing left to pay for sin. There is only despair over all that we are, think, speak, or do.

In like manner confession, too, cannot be false, uncertain, or piecemeal. For he who confesses that everything in him is nothing but sin includes all sins, excludes none, forgets none. Neither can the satisfaction be uncertain, because it is not our uncertain, sinful work that does it. It is the suffering and blood of the innocent Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Of this repentance John preaches, and later Christ in the Gospel, and we do too. By this repentance we dash the Pope and everything that is built on our good works to the ground. For everything that is called a good work or law is built upon a rotten and useless foundation. So there is no good work there, but only wicked works. No one keeps the Law (as Christ says in John 7:19), but all transgress it. Therefore the building is nothing but falsehood and hypocrisy, even where it seems most holy and beautiful.

And in Christians this repentance continues until death, because it contends lifelong with sin remaining in the flesh, as Paul testifies in Romans 7:14-25 that he wars with the law in his members, etc.; and that, not by his own powers, but by the gift of the Holy Spirit that follows the forgiveness of sins. This gift daily cleanses and sweeps out the remaining sins, and works to make man truly pure and holy.