Why You Do Things You HATE

I do not understand my own behavior; I do not act as I mean to, but I do things that I hate. –Romans 7:15

The above quote from the Apostle Paul is one of the most famous among Christians, and one of the most relatable quotes in the Bible. I mean, can’t we all relate to it?

It is also a quote that is often used as an excuse for our sins.

I was shown a clip from a recent episode of George Janko’s podcast where George interviews Pastor Cliffe Knechtle and his son Stuart. I previously knew nothing about George, as I’m not at all connected to pop culture. I can see he has a large following including two and a half MILLION YouTube Subscribers–good for him.

I understand that he was an ongoing guest on YouTube personality Logan Paul’s show Impaulsive, until Logan went after George, essentially telling George he needed a therapist, and not Jesus. George held his ground, as shown here, and subsequently left the show.

And since I don’t follow the mainstream Christian world much either, I don’t know much about Pastor Cliffe or his son Stuart, though I do recognize them. I do know they have been appearing at universities around the U.S., willingly engaging in dialogues with students, and for that, I commend them.

With that background out of the way, I want to concentrate on the podcast I mentioned at the beginning, and the point of this post. I really enjoyed the content of the full podcast with George, his fiance Shawna, Cliffe, and Stuart. I was particularly drawn to the raw honesty and humility of George and Shawna. Cliffe and Stuart specialize in answers, and that certainly has its place, but it’s the honest questions–particularly about ourselves–that really hit home with me.

Context!

There is a point in the podcast where Cliffe says that we should never just read a single Bible verse, because context is everything, and what comes before or after can help explain what is truly meant. I totally agree. And yet, when it comes to discussing “the inward struggle” Paul writes about in Romans 7:14–23, unfortunately, Cliffe did not include the entire discussion of the matter.

Just saying that we do the things we don’t want to do is merely a way to say that our natural selves act in this manner. This clip shows George struggling in himself, and struggling to understand these verses. Cliffe breaks them down for him. All well and good. But the discussion is taken no further than our failure to act in the way we would like. We are then having to essentially rationalize our failure while focusing on how God forgives us for that failure.

God may indeed forgive us for our failure, as our sin nature acts through us when we mean to do right, but this is hardly the end of the story! God is a God of victory–not defeat! We are NOT condemned to live forever in the failure to act as we should!

So I find this rule: that for me, where I want to do nothing but good, evil is close at my side. In my inmost self I clearly love God’s law, but I see that acting on my body there is a different law which battles against the law in my mind. So I am brought to be a prisoner of that law of sin which lives inside my body.–Romans 7:21-23 NJB

This is where many Christians stop, and Cliffe does the same here in answering George. But Cliffe himself said not to read verses (and I would say a group of verses) in isolation. Because right after these verses it says…

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? God–thanks be to him–through Jesus Christ our Lord.–Romans 7:24-25

Chapter eight brings it home…

Thus, condemnation will never come to those who are in Christ Jesus because the law of the Spirit which gives life in Christ Jesus has SET YOU FREE from the law of sin and death.–Romans 8:1-2

PLEASE RE-READ THE ABOVE BOLDED ITALICIZED SECTION!

To get a full context on what Paul is referring to, you can read Romans, Chapter 7, and the discussion goes through Chapter 8, Verse 13. It gets into the subject of how the law–in a strange sense–tends to bring OUT sin inside of us, and how we OVERCOME IT through the Spirit!

So How Do We OVERCOME Sin Through the Spirit?

Alright, we’re at “rubber meets the road” time… I discovered something a few nights ago that really hit me–I have been praying in the Spirit, primarily through wordless prayer–for decades now (I’m afraid to admit this, as it often seems I’ve learned very little in all this time). But when temptation comes, the stillness that I find in prayer goes out the window, and I let myself go into a full panic–running like HELL into the escape from inner pain. Where do I typically go? I dive straight into food–particularly the kind of food that serves my ego and lets me escape in the most efficient manner!

Yet, I rarely paid attention to the internal running away that I was constantly engaged in when NOT in quiet prayer. In other words, I WOULD NOT TAKE MY PRAYER WITH ME into my daily life. When I actually DID that (just a little), I found the key to what Paul discusses in Romans, Chapter eight.

He’s saying we are under one law–the law of sin–in our natural (fallen) selves. But there is another law–the law of the Spirit–that we are under WHEN WE ARE IN THE SPIRIT! And all it takes to be in the Spirit, is to be conscious of our mind running, and we have no obligation to follow the sin that seeks to dominate us!

I don’t think that most Christians, including Cliffe, understand this. No disrespect to him or other Christian “teachers,” but if he and other teachers did understand how to overcome this state, they would say it, and help others break free of it. I believe that George and his fiancee Shawna DO want to be free, and it’s clear by their testimony in the podcast that they have already experienced much of this freedom.

By the way, this is not my opinion: read Romans, Chapters seven and eight for yourself, and you will see that Paul clearly states that freedom from this sin state is not only possible, but the whole point of what he is teaching–freedom through the Spirit of God!

I would love to hear your feedback regarding what I’ve discussed here. As I said, God is a God of freedom–not slavery! He wants us to be free. His son, Jesus died for this to be so. And Jesus left the Holy Spirit here to guide us to this freedom!

We are not supposed to be in constant torment until we die, and then find freedom. We are supposed to find true love and peace while on this earth. This is the essence of what a Christian should be. We should have something that others see in us and want for themselves. The world is in torment–let us offer them a true alternative–freedom through the Spirit of God!

Patrick Rooney is the Founder of OldSchoolUs.com. He promotes natural health, success, and freedom during chaotic times. To reach Patrick, email him at [email protected].