The Bible is realistic about fallen human nature.  With staggering honesty, Paul the apostle admits to sinning, and being unable to stop himself.  He agrees that God's law is right, but he cannot keep it.  He knows that he has failed to obey every system of morality; he knows that he needs a Saviour every day to forgive him and to strengthen him to live God's way.

In these verses Paul stresses the constant power of sinfulness within him. This should be a wake-up call to every believer.  Although we may like to pretend that we live holy lives, the truth is rather different.  Sin is like a volcano within us waiting to erupt; and it does at the most unexpected times.  Neither do we learn the lessons from yesterday's failures very well because we keep on falling into the same sorts of sinful behaviour.  Even if we take ourselves away from the world's temptations, we still have our own sinful hearts which are good at inventing all kinds of wrong.

The sad truth is that we choose to sin, willingly.  We all desire to think, speak and act in ways that offend God even though we know we should not; even though we know God’s law.  Discipline and religious observance cannot ultimately stop us.  That is why we need to welcome Jesus, the holy Son of God to accompany us each day so that we will walk in step with His Spirit (Galatians 5:16-18).

Such honesty is not defeatism, nor is it a reason to abandon a disciplined, prayerful and servant-hearted life.  But this degree of honesty will show us that the problem with our fleshly nature is much worse than we ever thought.  It reminds us that no amount of self-improvement will ever make us holy.  Such a task is superhuman: which is why God has given us Jesus as our Saviour, the Bible as our guide and the Holy Spirit as our powerful companion.  Unless God Himself helps us, we have no hope.  That is why wise people are honest about themselves and open to Jesus, committing themselves to Him for mercy and forgiveness, for grace and fellowship, for gifting and service.