Reflections On Salvation, #7: When I Want to do Right, Evil Lies Close at Hand

Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. … So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Romans 7:14-15, 21-25 RSVCE

Reflecting upon the spiritual battle in my own life, this passage from Saint Paul in Romans chapter 7 captures my attention. But especially the sentence, “I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.”

Has anyone else noticed this “law”?

When my soul is properly ordered, a choice for or against disorder will soon lie before me. After being established joyfully in self-control, I will soon be tempted to laxity. When I am riding on a wave of grace after repenting or strengthening communion with the Lord, it is often the case that I will be tempted to sin in the near future.

Most times, that temptation to sin comes in the form of a choice for something “lawful” (good in itself), but in the circumstances, excessive in some way — and therefore sinful.

Like the temptation to watch TV to the neglect of household chores, when I’ve already watched TV recently. Or to snack mindlessly when I’ve recently had an adequate meal.

Again — these temptations seem to come shortly after having been strengthened in doing good. After receiving and enjoying the merciful grace of God, the devil makes a concerted effort, and my confidence in God is in danger of becoming spiritual presumption. As they say, “Pride goeth before the fall” (See Proverbs 16:18).

It takes a concerted effort on my own part, to counter the concerted effort of the devil. This makes me think of Saint Pope Paul VI’s words on the Kingdom of God and salvation:

[They] are available to every human being as grace and mercy, and yet at the same time each individual must gain them by force – they belong to the violent, says the Lord, … through abnegation and the cross.
Paul VI, Evangeli nuntiandi, 10.

The Lord equips us to fight the spiritual battle, but we ourselves must make the effort to take up arms and fight:

Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war.
Psalm 144:1 NABRE

And again:

Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. … So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:10-11, 14-17 NABRE

The spiritual life is a war, in which the armor and weapons are made available by the Lord. And often we are attacked in the moment that we are rejoicing in a recent victory.

In this war — I recall in amazement — God also does the bulk of the fighting. In fact, the power of the Lord guarantees us victory in the war for our soul, as long as we don’t intentionally and repeatedly commit sabotage, effectively aligning ourselves with the enemy forces.

And yet, at the same time, if we do not approach the battles with all the attention at our disposal, we will lose many of them. But the more battles we win, the more glorious the final victory will be when it is finally won. The more battles we win, the more we will share in the merits and glory of the Lord.

And so, each evangelist — and each Catholic — ought to examine the state of the war. Humbly crying out,

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Romans 7:24 RSVCE

That is, who will provide me with the defenses and weapons of war but the Lord of Hosts?

And then, relying upon the Lord’s provision, we each ought to play the part of the tactical officer: paying attention, recognizing patterns, anticipating the attacks of the enemy, and coming up with our own plans of defense and attack.

I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.

Do you recognize this law? What are you going to do about it?

Will you let the Lord “train your hands for battle, your fingers for war?” Will you take up “the armor of God” anew, and fight?

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!