Struggling to be Good

When I was confirmed in the Anglican Church at the age of fifteen, for the first time I realized I needed to be a lot better than I was.

And I said, “Now I’m confirmed, I’m going to be better.” And I was quite sincere.

The problem was, the harder I tried to be good, the quicker I got bad. I was not nearly so bad until I tried to be good. Because I stirred up something in me. I didn’t know what it was.

It’s what Paul calls the old man, the rebel, the flesh. And he would not do the right thing.

So in my rebellious teen attitude, I said, “Well, if all religion can do is make me a miserable offender, I can be an offender without religion and not nearly so miserable.”

So that was my personal decision. That was Paul’s experience. It happened to him. It happens to millions of people.