I recently heard a song by Tenth Avenue North titled “The Struggle.” These lyrics immediately captured my attention:

We are free to struggle / We’re not struggling to be free

Since hearing that song, God keeps placing the subject of struggle in my path. I’ve taken notice and given it much thought.

There’s a misconception that as Christians we shouldn’t struggle…with anything! It’s the idea that if we’re free in Christ, we shouldn’t struggle with fleshly desires: gossip, lust, greed, unforgiveness, {insert your own}. We somehow live in the idea that we shouldn’t struggle, and by golly, if we do, we sure can’t let anybody know. {That alone is enough to cause us to struggle.}

Yet, Paul…PAUL!!…said, For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. (Rom. 7:19 NASB) Not only did he struggle, he didn’t mind admitting it!

Through and in Christ, we’ve been given freedom from the penalty of sin. However, as long as we are present in our bodies, struggle will exist. If we didn’t struggle, we’d either be Jesus {i.e., perfect} or dead. The difference between Christians and non-Christians is that we DO struggle. We know the good we wish to do, but don’t. We are aware of the evil we do that we wish we didn’t. T.D. Jakes described it this way:

A lamb and a pig both end up in a mudhole. Both are covered in mud. There’s only one way to tell them apart: the pig wallows in the mud, while the lamb cries for help to get out.

While we may be delivered from one struggle, inevitably, another will arise. And another. Then another.

The joy is in knowing that we are free to live in the struggle, calling to Jesus for help. After all, our dependence on His strength and grace {not our lack of struggle} should be our defining trait.