We can’t rescue ourselves from ourselves – logically. God has to and He has.

“Although I want to do good, evil is right there with 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 7:21, 24-25)”

“Who will rescue me?” This is one of the deepest questions someone can ask. Modern people don’t ask ‘who will rescue me?’ because they think this is a ‘religious question’ and irrelevant to ‘real’ life.

In ‘real’ life everyone knows we need to be rescued sometimes. Someone drowning or someone very ill, needs to be saved. If the question ‘who will rescue me’ is about physical things, the answer is easy: a lifeguard or surgeon etc. But the question is not asking who will rescue me from physical danger outside of me, but… from me!

Again, sceptics would dismiss this as ‘introspective negativity’. Sure, I may need to be ‘improved’ or become a ‘better version of myself’, but I can do this myself. I don’t need to be ‘rescued’. And I’m definitely not ‘wretched’! Drug addicts and paedophiles are wretched, not me.

This proud attitude comes from not thinking deeply enough. Someone who is drowning can’t save herself. If she can, it means she isn’t really drowning. A fool can’t be wise. If he could, it would mean that he isn’t really a fool. If I can improve myself, then do I really need to improve? If I can make myself good, am I really bad? If I can rescue myself from myself then I don’t need to be rescued at all.

The Apostle Paul realised the truth: I can’t. When I try to do good, evil is there with me – that is, right inside me, part of who I am! I can’t rescue myself because I am the problem! This is why he says, “What a wretched man I am!” We only realise how bad we are when we try hard to be really good. We only think we are good when we lower our standards.

Still, isn’t it a bit negative to say humans are ‘wretched’? The modern worldview is that because we are just animals, cleverer but no different from other animals, we are not wretched. There is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ just survival of the fittest. Thankfully, people who believe this don’t live consistently with their beliefs and most try and be ‘good’ rather than ‘bad’. If we are just animals, by definition we are neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad’ and we don’t need anyone to ‘rescue’ us.

The Truth makes sense of our experience: because we are meant to be better than animals but we have ‘fallen’, we constantly disappoint ourselves. When we try and be good we realise we can’t rescue ourselves. We’re stuck with ourselves! This is what makes us ‘wretched.’

The Truth is sweeter too: there is Someone who has rescued us from ourselves. God. God sent the Perfect human who lived Perfectly. He took our place, became utterly ‘wretched’ by dying on a cross. He now lives and helps us progress towards what we were meant to be.