Read:Romans 7:14-25

Can you think of times in your life when you sin, ask the Lord for forgiveness, and are determined never to do that sin again? But then a few days later you are doing the same thing again? Maybe say that you are never going to get angry at your sister again. Or maybe you say you are never going to laugh at dirty jokes again. And yet so often you find yourself doing the same wrong things over and over again.

This can make you really sad and frustrated. You can even get angry at yourself and wonder if you are really a child of the Lord. You really do love the Lord and you really do want to serve him, but at the same time you just keep sinning. It’s this fight going on inside you.

Do you ever feel that way? Actually, all Christians know this fight very well. The apostle Paul certainly knew it too. He says, “The good things that I want to do, I don’t do, but the bad things that I don’t want to do, they are the things I actually do.” And so Paul cries out, “Oh wretched or broken man that I am, who will help me?” Paul sees this fight in his own life and hates that it happens, hates that he keeps on sinning. But he also knows that he is forgiven in Jesus Christ and that Christ will deliver him from this fight against sin. That’s why after he asks, “Who will deliver me?” he immediately adds, “I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Yes, Paul needed to keep fighting against sin in his life, but he knew that God would forgive him, help him, and continue to love him, because of Jesus’ death on the cross.

So in your fight against sin, don’t give up. Keep on fighting, keep on praying for forgiveness and keep on asking God to help you. Because you are his covenant child, he will continue to love you, and one day you will be in eternal glory and you will never have to fight against sin again!

Reflection with your child:

What can you do to help yourself fight against your sins?