If you trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and the savior of your eternal soul then you have experienced the internal struggle the apostle Paul speaks of in Romans 7:15.

For what I am doing, I do not understand, for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing that I hate.

This verse is just an exerpt within the whole text and the context should be read as well. I believe Paul is referring to sin in his life that he personally struggled with. I can relate to this and lately I have had an idea as to a personal correlation between the sin I struggle with as a believer in Christ and the struggle in eating right when you have adopted an exercise regime in your life.  

When I am consistently exercising, losing weight, and getting into better shape I have this struggle against old eating habits. When confronted with the temptation to over-eat, my mind says “you have worked so hard to get to this point and you want to go futher right?” That usually is motivation enough to be able to win against eating more sweets than I should. Which is my major downfall. But sometimes I give in and eat too much and feel remorse afterward. If I were not in the middle of getting into shape and the temptation came around I would find it much easier to give into it. The motivation factor of working against what I have accomplished lately would not exist.

The same holds true in my struggle against sin. When I am self-focused and world-focused I am vulnerable to the temptations that may come my way. My mind will say “what the heck I haven’t been focusing on anyone but me, one more won’t matter.” and that, my friends, is a definite heart issue (as my friend and pastor Chris P. would say). But on the other hand when I am consistently praying, studying God’s word, involved in ministry, trusting completely in God my motivation factor is very high to maintain this pattern. Granted if it were not for the Holy Spirit of God within me I would have no “will” power at all. Thanks be to Christ that He did provide a helper to come alongside me and encourage me to to Christ-like. The same Holy Spirit is available to everyone who believes and trusts in Christ, and in Christ alone to save them from condemnation. 

Hopefully I have made myself clear on this little personal revelation. I wonder if anyone else reading this has experienced this? I would imagine if you know Christ it might make more sense. Please post comments.