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Romans 7:15-25

This Way or That

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Romans 7:15-25
This Way or That

By Lois Parker Edstrom

Tug of war is a game which is played between two teams to see which team has the most strength. An equal number of players are chosen for two teams. Both teams grab opposite ends of a sturdy rope and a line is drawn on the ground at the middle point of the rope. Then, the two teams pull in an opposite direction from each other. The team that has the most strength and pulls the other team over the line is the winner. (Depending on the setting, this game could be demonstrated.)

In the Bible the Apostle Paul describes a problem he has and it sounds as if he is having a tug of war with himself. He says, “For I don’t know what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do” (7:15).

I think we have all felt that way. We usually know right from wrong, but we don’t always make the best choice. Perhaps we want to do something because our friends are doing it and we are pulled over the line to do something we shouldn’t do. We could think of ourselves as being in a tug of war between good and bad choices.

The Apostle Paul tells us that we don’t have power in ourselves to always make good choices, but we can look to God for strength. With God on our side we will stay on the side of goodness and be winners.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible