NPR's popular radio show This American Life featured an episode titled "The Devil Inside Me." The show asked various people if they ever felt like they were under the spell of an "inner voice" that held them in bondage to unwanted thoughts. According to the show's host, "It was like people had been waiting all their lives for somebody to ask them this
question."
Here were some of the responses from the interviews:
- A man says, "I certainly know the voice you're talking about."
Another man says, "The voice is irresistible, always. I'm in the thrall of that voice."
-A woman says, "Totally out of control. It's got this life of its own, and I can't tame it anymore."
-A woman says, "I actually have a name for the voice.
I call it Stan. Stan is the guy who tells me to have the extra glass of wine. Stan is the guy who tells me to smoke."
-A man says, "I remember somehow realizing just how finely calibrated the voice was to every nuance, every part of my feelings, including
the feeling that I didn't want to smoke cigarettes. And it's like, '[You] might as well have another cigarette, because this is it.'"
At the end of the episode the host asks someone, "Do you feel like the voice is winning?" A woman replies, "Right now,
yeah. I think I'm in some serious trouble, to be honest."*
Check out the following passage from the Book of Romans, and then ask yourself, "Can I relate to the apostle's
sentiments?"
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is
present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Romans 7:14-24
I remember the first time that I read these verses, when I first came to know Jesus. It almost felt like the author had known me somehow, and was writing directly to me
concerning my life. Fact is, that without Jesus working in us and through us, we are all in the same place...self-deceived, despondent, and despairing of ever having any victory over ourselves, our thoughts, and the direction of our lives.
Please look long and hard at words of Jesus: "The thief cometh not, but for
to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10:10
We have an adversary who wants nothing more than to destroy us...sometimes from the inside out. But we also have a Savior Who came so that we could be free from that slavery to self.
It is BECAUSE we struggle that He came...and that thought should give us incredible hope for the future...as long as we are connected to Him.
Have a great day and God bless!
