When You Know Better, But You’re Struggling to Live Better

When Knowing God’s Word Hasn’t Yet Changed How You Live

There are some things we struggle with because we simply don’t know any better. We haven’t learned what God says about it yet. We haven’t grown enough to recognize what is happening. But then there are those other things—the things where we know what God says, and we do know better.

We know we shouldn’t have said it, but we said it anyway. We know we need to forgive, but we keep rehearsing what they did. We know worry isn’t going to change anything, but our minds keep running through every possible outcome. We know God has been dealing with us about our attitude, our temper, our spending, our eating, our relationships, our prayer life, or the way we use our time. We know what the Word says. We can probably quote the scripture. But knowing better and living better are not always the same thing.

Paul understood the struggle. In Romans 7:18–19 (NLT), he wrote: “I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.” Now, Paul was not a man who lacked knowledge of God. He knew the law. He knew what was right. Yet he described something many of us understand very well: the frustration of knowing what God requires while discovering that knowledge alone does not give us the power to do it.

Knowing the Word Is Not the Same as Yielding to the Word

Sometimes we think that because we know better, we should automatically be able to do better. Then when we struggle, we become frustrated with ourselves. I should be past this by now. I’ve been saved too long for this. Why am I still dealing with this? Spiritual maturity is not measured only by what we know. Eventually, what we know has to become what we live.

James 1:22 (NLT) says, “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” There comes a point when God requires us to do something with what we know. We have to realize that there’s a difference between agreement with God’s Word and submission to God’s Word. And sometimes the struggle continues because we keep agreeing with God without actually yielding to Him.

We Need More than Human Strength To Win the Battle

Determination has limits. We tell ourselves, Ain’t no way I’m going to let that happen again. I’m going to get myself together. And I’m so serious about that thing. But we need to remember the ones of Jesus in John 15:5: “For apart from me you can do nothing.” There are changes in our lives that cannot be sustained by willpower alone. We need the power of the Holy Spirit working in us.

Galatians 5:16 (NLT) says, “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” Notice that Paul doesn’t simply tell us to stop doing wrong. He tells us how: let the Holy Spirit guide your life. That means I have to stop asking only, Why do I keep doing this? and begin asking, Where am I refusing the Holy Spirit’s leadership? Because He will lead us away from what feeds the flesh. He will convict us before the words come out of our mouths. He will deal with us about what we keep watching, entertaining, revisiting, excusing, and allowing. He will show us when we are walking back toward something God has already brought us out of.

We have to follow His leading.

Ask God to Show You What Is Underneath the Struggle

Sometimes what we keep trying to stop is only the fruit of something deeper. The anger may be connected to an offense we never surrendered. The need to control everything may be connected to fear. The unhealthy relationship may be connected to loneliness. The constant need for approval may be connected to insecurity. The spending may be giving us temporary comfort. The sharp tongue may be coming from resentment we have allowed to live in our hearts.

This is why we need more than behavior modification. We need God to search us.

In Psalm 139:23–24 (NLT), David prayed: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” Sometimes we’re asking God to help us stop doing something while He is trying to show us why we keep running back to it.

Let Him go deeper.

You Are Not Powerless

After describing the struggle in Romans 7, Paul doesn’t leave us there. In Romans 7:24 (NLT) He asks: “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” And then, in verse 25, comes the answer: “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Praise the Lord!

We have life in the Spirit. The message of Christianity is not that we spend the rest of our lives saying, Well, I know better, but I just can’t seem to do better. God has given us His Spirit and Philippians 2:13 (NLT) says, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” God is working in you. Not only telling you what needs to change. He’s not standing at a distance waiting for you to fix yourself. He is working within you, giving you both the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.

So when you find yourself in that frustrating place where you know better but you’re struggling to live better, don’t hide from God. Don’t surrender to the thought that this is just how I am. And don’t keep trying to fight the battle entirely in your own strength. Bring the struggle into the light. Ask Him to show you what is underneath it. Listen when the Holy Spirit corrects you. And make the changes He tells you to make. Because there comes a point in our walk with Christ when God isn’t simply trying to teach us more. He’s calling us to live what He has already taught us. ■

“When You Know Better, But You’re Struggling to Live Better”, written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times and KLizzie, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2026. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to encouraging and inspiring Christian Women to live boldly through God’s Word.

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