The War Within: Wrestling Sin, Shame, and the Spirit’s Slam
Romans 7:18-19
"I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing."
You've heard this before, "Shame can trick someone into thinking they’ve got to fix themselves before coming back to God, but that’s not how it works. He meets people where they are." And you've maybe for a time felt unburdened by the idea of a merciful God who knows what you're going through and who isn't trying to lay a heavy hand on you. But how long before that feeling of comfort and acceptance becomes a heavy trip again? Why is it that we seem to struggle with sin and shame. Even while we're doing good, we're bothered by the realization that we're not really good at all. I saw a post today that asked: "what's a good church?" and I thought to myself, "we are the church, so...there is no good church". I didn't reply to that post; that's me being good.
It truly is a spiritual battle. We're all wrestling with something deep and real here, how that initial relief of grace can fade back into a weighty struggle, even when we’re trying to live right. It’s like we get a taste of freedom, but then the old baggage creeps back in. Paul's not sugarcoating it, there truly is a war going on inside us. Sin’s not just the stuff we do; it’s this stubborn bent in us that keeps pulling us off course. And the quick and simple answer is that our sin casts a shadow on us. It's like a stain. And we can't get it out. We can try all sorts of things to wash it off but we'll never be rid of it. That’s the shadow it casts; it's forever whispering that we’re defined by our mess instead of the mercy Christ gives.
Why does the comfort fade?
Maybe because we're wired to be this way. Maybe we're predestined to stray like lost sheep. Which is why we need to draw closer every day to Christ. Stay close. Listen more. Abide in him.
Hebrews 2:1
"Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it."
The simple fact of the matter is, there is a tension between our own worldviews and our ability to see Christ in them.
Galatians 5:17
"For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do."
We are at war within ourselves at all times. No one isn't. Don't get to thinking that others aren't, because they are. No matter the outward appearances, they are. Life’s a grind, and it’s easy to lose sight of grace when the daily slog or our own failures start yelling louder. The flesh and the Spirit are at odds, and they're duking it out in us. We’re not fully "fixed" yet; we’re in process, and that can feel heavy at times, especially when the battle is endlessly raging on.
Is this separating us from God?
Think about that question.
We just read in Galatians 5 that the Spirit is in a battle with our flesh.
Who is that Spirit?
Go ahead I'll give you a minute to think about that.
But seriously, it's the truth. God is Spirit and he's working on you right now. He's doing that. It's his work. He hasn't left you behind. He's in you doing battle. You can't change that. You belong to him.
Romans 8:38-39
"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
He loves you man!
Believe in that!
This war inside us is universal, it's relentless, and it doesn’t care how polished someone looks on the outside. But I get it, it can sometimes be really exhausting. Just keep telling yourself, for that matter tell your sin, the Spirit isn’t some vague force; it’s God Himself, the Holy Spirit, tangled up in the mess with us. He’s not watching from the sidelines; He’s in the thick of it, working in us.
Philippians 2:13
"For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."
That’s not a "maybe" or a "someday" after you're perfected; it’s happening now, even when we feel like a trainwreck. Nothing, I mean NOTHING, can pry us out of His grip. Not the flesh’s tantrums, not the shame that tags along, not even the days when the slog drowns out the grace. The Spirit’s in us, fighting for us, because we’re His. That’s not us holding on to him; that’s Him refusing to let us go.
This isn't some fluffy bunny sentiment; this is spiritual warfare. This is a tag-team battle-royal. God's Spirit is in the ring with you, fighting for you. Waiting for you when you tag out, waiting to fly off the top ropes and body slam that problem into submission. This isn’t some soft, feel-good pat on the back; it’s a full-on brawl. Ephesians 6:12 backs that up, we’re not wrestling flesh and blood, but the heavy stuff, the unseen junk that wants to keep pinning us down.
Think Psalm 18
God comes into our situations equitably. If we do righteousness he comes in righteousness and mercy. If we do wickedness he comes with fury. It's that simple. If you're feeling like a sinful failure, it's because you are, and he affirms everything in truth.
Psalm 18:24-28
"So, the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down. For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness."
He exposes our shadows. His light shines on us and our sins are in the shadows that are created by that light. It's not that the light creates the sin, it's just revealing it. Righteousness gets mercy, crookedness gets a twist of fury. It’s stark, almost brutal in its honesty. God’s not fudging the lines; He’s reflecting what we bring to the table, like a mirror we can’t dodge.
He doesn’t gaslight us into thinking we aren't sinful when we damn well know we are. Psalm 18:27 says He saves the humble but humbles the proud. God's Spirit is like a floodlight, blasting through the dark, casting those shadows where our sin can’t hide.
If you're experiencing that grief...
GOOD!
...that means He's at work.
People duck the light all the time, the world hates the light because it shows the dirt, but it’s there anyway, undeniable, even if you can't see the filth, you can still smell it.
John 3:20
"For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed."
See...they don't even try to come near the light. They want nothing to do with it. It's they who are beyond all hope. They send themselves to hell.
Think about this:
You are a spirit being. You have a soul, and you are spirit. And God is making your spirit heaven ready, through your soul in one part but also by the virtue of his Son. You're born again in him, yes, but your flesh software is still installed there. God is working on rewriting that programming in you.
Colossians 3:10
"And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator."
It's being "renewed".
How?
"In knowledge"
Knowledge of what?
"After the image of its creator"
When your spirit was born again your soul did not get born again. Your body did not get born again. Your SPIRIT! I said, your spirit got born again. Your spirit is "in Christ". Your spirit is in His realm now. Even as your physical self and soul are still living in this place, in this reality, in this sin place.
It’s not just the head-stuff that's renewing us, like trivia about God. Ephesians 4:23 ties in, renewed in the "spirit of your mind." It’s knowing Him, His character, His truth, it's understanding what pleases God and letting that sink in and overwrite the junk that the flesh keeps defaulting to.
But...but...but wait a minute:
1 John 3:8-9
"Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God."
That sounds absolute, right?
Like the new software’s installed, and the old flesh program should be toast. But then there’s that tension with what we’ve been unpacking, there's still the war inside, the renewal that’s still "being" worked out in Colossians 3:10.
What’s up with that?
Look again at 1 John 3:9. Are you making "a practice of sinning"? Is it deliberate, is it dug into a pattern because you just keep doing it? Or are you continuing to fall for it? In other words, are you talking about a lifestyle or a stumbling in?
You can’t keep sinning as a way of life because that new-self hates it, it’s at odds with the flesh, like we saw in Galatians 5:17. The reality is the flesh still fights back, and we trip up. Paul said that even about himself, Romans 7 again, Paul’s doing what he hates, but he’s not camping out there; he’s crying out for deliverance.
Our renewal is real, as real as the Spirit who lives within us. 1 John 1:8 keeps it honest:
"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves."
What's the difference?
The born-again don’t cozy up to sin, they grieve it, they're fighting it, and they tag God in for the finishing move submission hold. That "cannot keep on sinning" in 1John 3:9 is about our spirit's identity, not a flawless track record in the flesh.
You can't work that out in the flesh. Not fully. And so how much good is good enough anyways if you're trying to erase the little bit of bad that remains in you?
It’s a trap friends. It's a devil's trap. If we try to crunch it like a flesh scorecard, we're falling for his schemes.
Ephesians 2:8-9 shuts that devil down:
"By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."
No amount of "good" erases the bad because the flesh can’t pay that bill.
It’s who we are in spirit, not a perfect flesh resume, that matters. The identity’s locked in, God’s seed, His Spirit, is the new operating system working in your spirit. But the flesh? It’s still lagging, still glitching, still dragging its old habits into the ring.
The born-again don’t roll over and cuddle with sin; they hate it, they wrestle with it, and they call in God for the submission.
So that little bit of bad that sticks around? It’s not about outworking it; it’s about out-trusting it. The spirit’s secure in Christ, the flesh is fading, and God’s the one slamming the gate shut on your old soul.
He’s finishing what He started. He started it...never forget that. He's doing it. He started it, He’s finishing it, and doubting that’s like questioning the champ’s knockout punch. So what you gonna do? Doubt his ability to get it done?
Philippians 1:6
"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."
Amen?
Come on...give it up. Let's do a tag-team double body slam finishing move on that devil and send him flying through the ropes and right out of the ring. That’s the Spirit and us, synced up, slamming sin and shame into the mat and forcing him into submission. You can apply your sharp-shooter Triple H finishing move style, but that old sin-man isn't going to submit easy, not until the Spirit comes in and performs the double submission move together with you. And together you overcome that old enemy.
Psalm 44:5
"Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise against us."
Amen and amen.