Perhaps you’ve heard church sermons portraying how wonderful the Christian life is. Perhaps you’ve heard thrilling testimonies from people whose lives were transformed by the gospel. Perhaps you’ve bought and read Christian self-help books that guarantee personal change. But perhaps also you’re frustrated because your personal miracle still hasn’t happened. You still fall into the same-old sins; you still drag around the same-old fears, failures, and guilt. You ask yourself, “Why am I still broken?”

Don’t panic. It’s not just you. St. Paul himself articulated the internal struggle that many of us feel: 

“Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am!” (Romans 7:21-24). The only place he could find relief was in the comforting message of the forgiveness of our sins through Christ.

We won’t be completely healed and transformed until we get to heaven. In the meantime, we exist in a state of perpetual spiritual warfare, afflicted by our own weaknesses and daily assaulted by the devil. But Christ’s victory is real, and it is complete. He gives us his victory, and through faith we can claim it even while groaning.

Soon, soon comes the Triumph. Hang on!