We All Struggle in Some Way

Principle 2: We all struggle with flaws in our corrupt flesh nature, though it has different manifestations in all of us.

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. Galatians 5:19-21

When life fell apart due to my addiction, I was acutely aware that everyone knew. The worst thing about me was on display for the all to see and I felt like the worst person in the world. It was a great comfort to me then, when others were open enough to share their own struggles. Not everyone is an addict, but everyone has something, and those who were willing to be honest, helped me realize I wasn’t alone in my failures.

Jesus taught that we are spirit and flesh (John 3) and Peter taught that our flesh wars against our spirit (1 Peter 2:11). In knowing Christ, we are reborn in our spirit life, but we carry that new life in a vessel that is deeply flawed (2 Corinthians 4:7). If my body is afflicted with diabetes before I came to know Christ, I still have diabetes afterwards. If my flesh nature is prone to anger or lust before I come to faith, I’ll continue to struggle with those things. Even Paul wrestled with his destructive self-will (Romans 7:15).

James insisted that we all stumble (James 3:2) and Paul, in today’s passage, said that our destructive flesh nature has many different manifestations. Some of us are prone to drug addiction, while others wrestle with anger, pride, food, gambling, lust, social media, affirmation, or greed. We all have different flaws that cause us misery.

If I think I’m free from any struggle, then I have surely succumbed to a blinding pride, which is perhaps the deadliest of all flaws as it is almost impossible for the one suffering from it to see it. As we grow in faith, knowing God more, our failures become ever more obvious. This isn’t about feeling guilty. This is about being aware of our desperate need for God’s grace and our profound dependence on his mercy. It is precisely because we are such a mess that we so badly need God.

We all struggle differently, but we all struggle. Thank God then, that he saves us from ourselves. We are not alone. We all have something and we all need help.