“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25).

One of the frustrations we face in life is the struggle between doing the right thing and doing the wrong thing. That presents a problem. Sometimes doing the right thing goes against what we want to do. That’s why Paul wrote, in the verses prior to this one, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (7:15). What a dilemma!

The problem is even more troubling if we are legalistic; depending on what we “do” as the basis for our salvation. Who of us hasn’t felt, in the midst of this struggle to do the right thing, “What a wretched man I am?” The perpetual battle isn’t with others, or even just with the devil. It is a war that goes on inside us when we are trying to earn our salvation.

Paul, who identified the struggle, doesn’t leave us without a solution. He found the answer to the conflict for himself and for us. Our rescue is in the deliverance that comes through Jesus Christ our Lord. In our own efforts, apart from Christ, we are resigned to constant frustration and ultimate failure. Our victory is in the final, complete triumph of Jesus over our sin, our weaknesses and our failures. The deliverance Paul found is ours as well. Who will rescue me? “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”