The Battle We Cannot Win Alone

        
      This past week at work a battle took place outside my office window.  This minor war was fought bravely, but unfortunately, there were no real winners of this engagement.  You see, a little bird was fighting against his own reflection in the window.  Of course, the bird thought he was really seeing another bird, so it relentlessly kept up the fight. 
         I don't know if the bird is male or female, or even what kind of bird it is.  I only know that it is very determined.    The bird is nesting in one of the bushes that run across the front of the building.  Every time he noticed his reflection in the window he would attack it. 
     That poor stubborn creature noticed his reflection a lot!  I constantly heard it either fly at the window full force or peck, peck, peck against the glass.  Part of the time, I was able to block out the noise; but more often the banging and pecking  was quite annoying.  I wondered if the little thing might ever give up, but he seemed bent on destroying his foe. 
     Do you think sometimes we might like that poor bird?  He just kept fighting with himself, over and over again.  Have you ever heard the phrase, "he is his own worst enemy?"  Have you ever been like that?  So many times we see-saw back and forth over our commitment to serve God that we are literally our own worst enemy. 
     Sometimes, we war with ourselves over our weaknesses and temptations.  There may be something in our lives that we haven't given up yet ... we may be trying to keep some part of our sinful past.  Perhaps, there is something pulling us away from fully serving our God.  Maybe we keep going back to the same bad habits time and time again and never really commit to the Father. 
    Have we told God -- "OK, Lord I will give up this and this.  And I will even start doing some of those good things you want me to do.  But this one thing, Lord - let me just hold on to this one thing?"  Well it could be that we are beating our heads against a wall, kind of like that little bird flinging himself against the glass never realizing he is fighting with himself.
     Sometime the bird would hit the glass pretty hard.  I know it was bound to hurt him.  Yet he just kept doing it.  Who do we hurt when we refuse to let go of our weaknesses?  We all know the answer to that.  We are really harming ourselves.  We think we are bargaining with God (maybe); but what we are really doing is battling against our own worldly nature.
     The sins we struggle with could be anything.  Our own weaknesses are just that -- our own.  What is a battle for me may not be a temptation at all for you.  But when I succumb to these weaknesses -- it doesn't take very long at all for me to be unhappy with myself. 
     I think we are all like that bird sometimes.  We don't like what we see.  We realize that we are looking at an enemy -- a very unpleasant part of ourselves -- and we fight it.  The battle goes on constantly.  It is like our Brother Paul wrote about in Romans chapter 7.  Living the Christian life can be a struggle. 
     Sometimes we fight with ourselves because we have the desire to fall back into worldly ways.  Other times we fight because we feel so guilty for being weak that we really beat up on ourselves.  Either way it is frequently a losing battle.  The fight  with our conscience wears on us.  Often, we really can be our own worst enemy. 
     The truth is we really can't when this battle on our own.  Oh yes, there is one way we can win; but we mustn't take the glory for it.  Most of us know that; but I think even as Christians we get duped occasionally.  The devil tricks us into thinking all hope is lost.  Don't listen to the deceit that the satan spouts!  Paul tells us through Jesus Christ we are more than conquerors.  We can defeat our weaknesses and strive to serve our Lord and Savior. 
    Now of course we know we must have the desire to conquer our sin.  It is our choice first.  We have to make the decision to love Christ enough to want to obey Him.  It doesn't magically happen by saying, "OK, Lord take away this weakness in my life."  We make the conscience decision to guard ourselves against that weakness.  If we refuse to see this, there is no victory. 
     If we continue in sin, our conscience buries itself deep within us.  We refuse to change and the victory goes to the devil because we have lost all hope of heaven. But with Christ in the picture -- if we put Him there -- the battle will belong to the Lord and through Him we will gain the victory over our sins and for the salvation of our soul.
      If we walk in the Light the battle can be won.  We can gain the advantage in the fight, but  remember there is only one way to do so.  It is through Jesus Christ that we win the victory.  It is through His blood that we are forgiven - if we choose to obey.  It is His power in us that allows us to defeat the sins we struggle with. 
      We cannot do this on our own -- but we can with God's help.  Through the Son we gain access to the Father.  Then Father and Son are able to help us fight the toughest battles and conquer our sins.  When we beat against the glass without our Redeemer, we will fail every time.  With Him on our side -- we will conquer our temptations and gain the victory.  That victory is so sweet - for through this win- it is Heaven we gain!

Christ above all things,
Robin