I have an imposter who looks just like me.
He mimicks my actions down to a tee.
He does what I do and says what I say,
Not once in awhile but every day.
It’s kind of a shock to know he is there.
My once private life is kind of a scare.
He can interupt me any time, any place
When I’m with others or in quiet space.
And when he shows up things always go bad.
He takes control of my soul and I get so mad.
His lurking presence brings out my sin,
The lusting and fighting and evil begins.
But I’ve been made new through Jesus’ shed blood,
Judgment for sin exchanged for grace like a flood.
The sin that defined me is now nailed to the cross.
My gain is eternal through Christ’s earthly loss.
Through Jesus my old self was nailed to that tree,
And through God’s Spirit inside I’m a new me.
My imposter was crucified for once and for all.
So why does his presence still cause me to fall?
He’s legally dead but has one power left,
He’ll keep on deceiving ’til his dying breath.
He whispers the lies that he’s still in charge
And sadly, for me, his lies they loom large.
Too many times what he’s selling I buy
And in so doing exchange the truth for a lie.
I let him run me instead of running myself
Straight to the Lord to get divine help.
“Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
From this living corpse who lies every breath?
Thanks be to God victory’s still found at the cross,
Not just to “get saved” but to let Christ be my boss.
It’s a daily battle between my imposter and me
But this body of death will not rule over me.
Through God’s grace I will learn how to win
For Christ’s death on the cross has conquered my sin.
One day, on that Day, I’ll be fully set free
For once and for all to be the real me.
Until that moment my imposter will lie.
But I’m on to him now and know his disguise.
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I 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
