Romans 7:24

(prefaced starting with verse 21) {NIV}

21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
 
Poor Paul I thought.
Because Paul and I are in the exact same boat.
 
I find myself so frequently feeling this way. I was born into rebellion against God. And now I want to do good, but my sinful nature pulls me back in to my old habits, making me a prisoner of myself. I'm miserable, dispicable, hapless; pitiful. I'm dying in myself.
But through Christ and Christ alone, I can break the bonds that hold me.
 
This passage so clearly shows me that following and obeying the law of God is not easy. As long as I'm in this body of sin, this body of death, I will want to rebel. My mind and heart will be torn. It will be a daily struggle. But as Paul goes on to say in Rom 8:18, our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.Although some days feel like dying daily and taking up our crosses to follow Christ is too much to handle, knowing that the gain is greater than the pain makes it worthwhile.