Q116_072326 Rom. 7:13 My Good Intentions Have Led To Bad Results. Why?Q116_072326 Rom. 7:13 My Good Intentions Have Led To Bad Results. Why?
How it Happens with Colin Cook
Colin Cook reflects on Romans 7 to explain why good intentions and strict rule-keeping can worsen addiction and inner turmoil. He suggests that repeated failures may highlight the need for grace and draw people towards Christ rather than deeper self-condemnation.
14:33•23 Jul 2026
Why Good Intentions Fail: Sin, the Law and Addiction in Romans 7
Episode Overview
- Trying to use God’s law as a route to salvation only increases shame, fear and temptation.
- Sin uses the commandments to deceive, producing “all manner of evil desire” instead of holiness.
- Repeated failures, addictions and crises may reveal human brokenness and point people towards Christ’s mercy.
- Paul’s repetition in Romans is intentional, helping stubborn and fearful hearts grasp key truths about grace.
- The law’s role is to reveal immorality and drive people to Jesus, not to make anyone righteous by effort alone.
“God is not wanting to condemn you and make you feel endlessly ashamed and make you feel endlessly guilty. God is not an ogre.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol, drugs, or other compulsive habits? In this episode of *How it Happens with Colin Cook*, the focus lands firmly on why good intentions so often lead to bad results, especially for those struggling with addiction. Drawing from Romans 7, Colin unpacks the tension between God’s law and human nature.
He explains that the law is “holy and just and good,” yet, as he stresses, “the law belongs to the kingdom of sin and death because it produces death in me.” Rather than making anyone holy, the law exposes how deeply broken they are, stirring up shame, fear and, paradoxically, more temptation. This teaching-style episode is aimed at people wrestling with addictions of all kinds—alcohol, drugs, food, sex, obsessive worry—and wondering why sheer willpower or moral effort keep failing.
Colin personifies sin as an active force, pointing to Paul’s statement that “sin, taking opportunity of the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me,” and links this deception to the cycle of relapse and despair many know all too well.
He highlights how repeated crises, failures and disappointments can feel like a life heading towards disaster, yet argues they may actually push someone towards grace: “God has brought me to these positions of crisis and difficulty so that I might call upon Jesus, the merciful one.” Paul’s repetition in Romans becomes a model for how stubborn minds and fearful hearts sometimes need to hear the same truth again and again before it sinks in.
If you’re tired of trying to fix yourself by being ‘good enough’, this episode offers a different lens: the law shows the depth of the problem so that people can run to Christ rather than run harder on the hamster wheel of self-improvement. Could your own chaos be pushing you towards mercy instead of away from it?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.