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Romans 7:14 “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

Think

Ever had that dream where you're trying to run, but your feet won’t move? Like you’re stuck in place while everything else races forward? That’s a picture of how life can feel spiritually. You know what’s right. You even want what’s right. But no matter how hard you try, it feels like you’re walking through wet cement. Slow. Heavy. Stuck.

That’s where Paul starts in this section of Romans. “The law is spiritual,” he says. In other words, God’s commands are good. They’re not the problem. But then he shifts the spotlight inward. “I am unspiritual.” There’s a gap between the goodness of God’s law and the reality of his own heart. He’s not speaking as an outsider here. He’s writing as someone who loves God, someone who has already been changed by grace, someone who is deeply aware of both his need and his struggle.

And he says something raw: “sold as a slave to sin.” That might seem strange if you remember Romans 6, where Paul said we are no longer slaves to sin. So which is it? Free or enslaved? The answer is both. In our position before God, we are free. Justified. Clean. But in our daily experience, we still wrestle with the old patterns, the old mindsets, the old desires. Sin no longer owns us, but it still harasses us. And sometimes, it feels like it’s winning.

Paul is naming that tension. Not as an excuse, but as an honest confession. He’s describing what it’s like to want holiness and still battle sin. To know truth and still feel tempted. To love God and still feel stuck.

Maybe that’s you right now. Maybe you’ve tried to shake a habit, only to fall back into it. Maybe you’ve made promises to yourself or to God that you’ve broken. Maybe you’ve grown tired of trying, because every time you move forward, something drags you back. You feel like a fraud. You wonder if real change is possible. You’re stuck.

But what if the feeling of being stuck is not the end of your story? What if it’s actually the beginning of something deeper? Something more honest, more freeing, more full of grace than anything you’ve experienced before?

One of the biggest lies we believe is that struggle means failure. That if we really loved God, we wouldn’t feel this torn. But Paul—an apostle, a missionary, a man who dramatically met Jesus —is struggling. Not just in the past, but in the present tense. “I am unspiritual,” he says. Not “I was.” Not “I used to be.” Right now. Still in process. Still fighting. Still needing grace.

This doesn’t mean we should settle for sin. It means we should stop pretending that we don’t need help. It means we stop judging our standing with God by our ability to keep up appearances. The Christian life isn’t about projecting strength. It’s about admitting weakness and trusting the One who is strong.

It’s been said that grace runs fastest to the lowest place. If that’s true, then maybe feeling stuck is not a sign of disqualification, but an invitation to deeper dependence. Maybe the stuck places are where we finally stop trying to earn what can only be received.

Think about the way addiction works. People trapped in it often swing between denial and despair. Denial says, “I’m fine, I’ve got this under control.” Despair says, “I’ll never change, so why try?” But the first step toward freedom is neither of those. It’s honesty. It’s saying, “I can’t fix this on my own.” That’s not weakness. That’s the start of recovery. And spiritually, the same is true.

Paul’s words in this verse are not the end of his message. They’re the foundation. He’s not just venting. He’s setting the stage for a Savior. Before we get to Romans 8, before we hear that there is no condemnation, we have to sit in the tension of Romans 7. And this is where the gospel begins to shine. Because Jesus doesn’t save us from struggle. He meets us in it. He walks with us through it. And his grace is not only for the clean moments, but for the messy middle.

You may feel stuck, but you are not alone. The very fact that you feel the struggle is evidence of God’s Spirit at work in you. Dead hearts don’t wrestle. Only living ones do. If you were completely given over to sin, you wouldn’t care. But the fight in you is proof that grace is alive in you.

So don’t give up. Don’t hide. Don’t assume you’re the only one who feels this way. The apostle Paul felt it too. And he didn’t hide it. He put it in ink, so you’d know it’s okay to not be okay, as long as you don’t stay there.

Apply

Take ten minutes today to write down where you feel stuck. Be brutally honest—no filters, no spin. Then read this verse again and thank God that your struggle doesn’t disqualify you. It actually positions you to receive grace. Ask him to help you stop hiding and start healing.

Pray

God, I confess that I feel stuck in ways I can’t fix. I try and fall. I promise and forget. I want what’s good, but I don’t always do it. Thank you for meeting me in the middle of the mess. Thank you that my weakness doesn’t scare you. Help me stop pretending and start depending on your grace. In Jesus’ name. Amen.=