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I Desire To Do Your Will

                 I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart. (Psalm 40:8)

                 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 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. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. (Romans 7:21-25)

 

Yes, it’s a good Sunday School answer. We honestly want to do God’s will. Until the dishes need to be done, and the kids are arguing, and we’re tired and really just want to watch TV for an hour and go to bed, or until it’s inconvenient. Or, until that treat of whatever sort calls us from the kitchen, or the person we’re dealing with is rude. Then, we still want to do God’s will, somewhere deep inside, but our attitude and behavior struggle because our wants are in conflict.

                And the strange reality is that God doesn’t want us to want to do His will as much as He wants our will to line up with His will, so that when we do our own will, we’re doing His. That’s what conforming to the image of Christ is about. The whole idea is for us to reach the point at which God can give us whatever we want because what we want is in line with what He wants. In other words, the goal is to not only desire to do His will and have His law in our hearts, but to actually do it without making it a drama or struggle.

                Unfortunately, it often is a struggle because the sin that is in us doesn’t want to do His will or obey His law even if we do. That’s what Romans 7 is about. Jesus delivers us. Over time, He breaks us out of our prisons and teaches us His way. It’s not something we’re likely to see completed in our lifetimes, but expressing gratitude for what He has done may be an integral place to begin, because that will help us learn that what God does is good for us. And if we see it as good, we might find it easier to welcome it.

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