Why Is It So Hard to Do What is Right?

Newsletter Article for December 1998

© 1998 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (Romans 7:15)

It is always a struggle to do what is right. It is rarely easy. Perhaps that is why an act of kindness from a stranger is so special and noteworthy, not only because of the kindness itself, but also for what has been overcome or sacrificed to get to that point. If you have studied Luther’s Small Catechism you ought to remember that we have three major powers working against us which make it hard for us to obey God and do what is right. These three powers are the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh.

Our first obstacle is our own sinful nature. Even without any outside help, we are drawn to disobey God. This is our sinful Pride. Our sinful nature leads us to believe that we can do no wrong, and we believe that as long as we do what is right in our own eyes we don’t have to do right in the eyes of others. However, Jesus gave us the golden rule which says that we should love our neighbor as we love ourselves. We are not the ones to determine the rightness of our own actions, but instead God and others ought to determine if we do right by them.

The second obstacle to doing right which we face is the world. Because the world is full of sinful people they want to justify their own sinful actions and bring us down to their level. After all, if we are just as bad as everyone else, then we have no right to condemn anyone else. This is the “everybody is doing it” argument which we all know all too well. The trouble with this is that it leads us into an ever deepening spiral of sin and depravity until we destroy ourselves.

This is clearly shown in the struggle for peace in the Middle East between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Soon after a recent peace agreement was reached between the two sides there was a terrorist bombing which was meant to re-ignite the hatred and destroy the peace process. I can’t even remember which side bombed the other, but it doesn’t matter because there are groups on both sides which would rather see both nations obliterated rather than swallow their own pride and live in peace and prosperity with their closest neighbors. Those who don’t want peace must have a death wish, and they will likely get what they want. Those who want peace are afraid for their lives because their own people think little of their lives and will try to murder them. This is an example of how the world makes it hard to do what is right, even when it is clearly in our own best interests to do so.

Behind both of these obstacles is a third obstacle, the devil. The devil is the original enemy of God, and he wants to do everything he can to destroy God’s will, and hurt God’s people. The devil is a powerful enemy, but there are limits to his influence over us. God keeps the devil on a short leash so that he cannot destroy us against our will. Remember that even in the book of Job, the devil couldn’t torment Job without God’s approval, and even then God limited his power. But the devil is a tough opponent, and he knows that we are all sinful by nature. Even though Christians have been reborn as holy children of God, the devil works on our sinful flesh to try to get us to do evil, and kill the new life within us from God.

Any of these three obstacles would be enough to keep us from doing what is right, but with all three working together it is impossible. Fortunately for us we are not alone in our struggle. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (1 John 3:8) Christ has overcome the devil so we should trust in Jesus to give us the strength to resist the devil’s temptations to sin. Jesus also told us, “I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) We don’t have to fear the evil intentions of the world, because Christ has rescued us from all that the could do to us. Jesus also rescues us from our greatest obstacle, our own sinful flesh, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22) Even though our sinful flesh must die because it is corrupted by sin, we have Christ’s guarantee that He will raise us to life and glorify our bodies so that they are perfect, without sin.

Why is it so hard to do right? Because we are trying to do it on our own, apart from Christ. Let us submit our will to Christ and let Him guide our actions, so that by His grace, we will continue to do good and give Him all the praise and glory.