Our body retains memories of our sinful past and tries to pull the new soul back into it. That is where the internal battle is coming from. If you are a believer, your soul is reborn, but your body is not. At least not yet. And you must constantly fight with what it’s accustomed to when the body used to listen to the old soul.

For I do not understand my own actions, For I do no do what I want , but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” Romans 7:15-16

A mental picture that helps me with this concept is a story I read when I was younger. A high government official had a drinking problem. Everyday after work, he would ride his horse to a tavern. But this affected his reputation and brought down his family name. So, he decided to quit drinking. But one day, after work, he fell aseep on the horse, only to find himself in front of a tavern. The horse remembered the place that the official frequented and went there as a habit. The official became upset and slay the horse for not understanding his new resolve!

That horse is like our old nature. Even though we have been reborn or renewed internally, we are still wearing the flesh of sin. It has its own habits and “memories.” And we are not going to be cured of the old habit until we get a new body in heaven.

So, fight your old habit. Keep slaying the “horse.” Keep scratching off the old garment!

PH