The Standard August 22, 2026
My husband and I are just eight months into grandparenthood and have been surprised by the number of unique baby behaviors we had forgotten. Our grandson exhibits the not uncommon habit of fighting sleep, even as he is yawning, rubbing his eyes, and babbling. Just when it seems like he has stopped drinking the bottle and has fallen asleep, he’ll jerk his head up and start wiggling. We go through this several times before he finally succumbs to sleep.
Of course, the best alternative for him would be to get the rest he so obviously needs. He will wake up refreshed and ready to enjoy more activity. This is something he experiences multiple times a day. It makes me wonder how often I am faced with such an obvious choice for my own best, yet do not immediately cooperate with what God already has shown me is good. From experience, I know that there is a right path which leads to happiness and enjoyment in daily living. Why do I still allow myself to get caught up in situations which ultimately will lead to anxiety or lack of contentment or just plain feeling bad?
Near AD 56 or 57 the Apostle Paul described this kind of inner turmoil in his letter to the church in Rome.
“We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So, I find this law at work: 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! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:14-25
These spiritual battles plague all Christians. As sleepy babies should not fight a nap or bedtime, so we should not fight the good that God desires to do through us. It is only through the Holy Spirit that we are able to choose life-giving, God-honoring ways.
celiastone 