“I forgive you, but you’ll probably just do it again and ask me to forgive you again, and nothing will ever change.”
My child’s words echoed the fear I held in my weary heart. What if I can’t change? What if I keep losing my patience and yelling to try to regain a feeling of control in my home? What if my patterns of sin end up causing my children to walk away from the faith, doubtful that it’s real since it doesn’t seem to be helping their mom?
When Christmas music starts playing this time of year, I’m more of an “O Come O Come Emmanuel” kind of girl than a “Holly Jolly Christmas” one. Generally, I wouldn’t say I have the outlook of Eeyore in daily life, but every year when Christmas rolls around I feel conflict between the weight of sin and the constant refrains of the season. Sometimes my days just don’t feel merry and bright; they feel heavy and dark, caused by a cycle of sin I can’t seem to escape. And frequently, my best-laid Christmas plans of cookie decorating and driving to look at lights end up with crying children, yelling parents, and loud wails of, “This was supposed to be fun!”
For these and many other reasons, Romans 7 has always been a comfort to me. If Paul struggled with ongoing sin, I can’t be alone in my struggles. He wrote, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.... Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.... Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (vs. 15, 20, 24–25).
What my child graciously pointed out is the same thing Paul expressed here, and what I too feel deeply: we want to change, but sometimes it feels like we never will. Who will deliver us from these bodies of death?
This is why the Incarnation is such incredible news. The writer of Hebrews reminded us that because Jesus came in human form and faced the same temptations we face, “yet without sin,” we can have hope in our current state of weakness and struggle and in what is yet to come:
“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14–16).
Our confidence in coming to the Father for grace—when we’re tempted to sin, and when we’ve given in to temptation—is based on the fact that Jesus did not give in. How can we keep from overflowing in worship when we consider the mind-blowing truth that Jesus knows from experience what we’re feeling? Not only that, he sympathizes with us. This truth is expressed so beautifully in one of my favorite hymns, “Jesus, What a Friend For Sinners,” by J. Wilbur Chapman. Here’s the second verse:
Jesus! What a strength in weakness!
Let me hide myself in him;
Tempted, tried, and sometimes failing,
He, my strength, my victory wins.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Hallelujah! What a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.
This is good news no matter what kind of day, month, or year we’ve had. Jesus will help us, keep us, love us, and be with us to the end! God has promised to sanctify us—to make us holy as he is holy. And when we study his Word, we see that he is a promise-keeping God.
We can trust that he is sanctifying us, even now. He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it (Philippians 1:6). Even on the days when we can’t see it, he is working. When we’re discouraged by sin, we can repent, take it to the cross, and find the relief that A. W. Tozer said would be found by the man who “stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One.” As we gaze upon this High Priest who sympathizes with us and holds us fast, our affection for him grows. And, as our affection for him grows, it takes over and pushes out our affections and desires for lesser things.
Be encouraged, then, that this season is a perfect time to gaze upon our Savior. Spend time thinking about the Incarnation, when God became man and endured everything that would enable him to sympathize with you in your weakness. And, in this already-not-yet reality in which we live, rejoice that the One who came once to free you from the power of sin will come again to take you home, where sin will no longer be your reality and where you will see him face to face.
Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
–Charles Wesley
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION/ APPLICATION:
What sin struggles do you feel most trapped by? What sort of effect have they had on you and the people in your home?
How does the coming of Christ give you hope for change?
Spend some time confessing the sin you listed in Question 1 to God and repenting (see Psalm 51 for a biblical model of repentance). Then consider whomyou might confess you struggle to. Ask them to pray for you—that you will look to Christ and grow in your affections for him.
Catherine Parks is a writer and Bible teacher who lives in Nashville, TN with her husband, two children, and a cute dog named Ollivander. She’s the author of four books, including Empowered and Strong, collections of Christian biographies for middle grade readers. You can find more of her writing at cathparks.com .