Elvis would have been 78 today. He is one of those people who never really had a chance to be a normal person. It is not really all that odd that we did not get to see him become elderly. Watch this video then please read on.
With hindsight, we know something Elvis does not know. We know that he is going to be seeing the Lord soon. Here we see a man that we now know was in the throes of his addiction, a disease that has taken way too many talented people way too soon. Many people have noted that Elvis believed in Jesus. Like all of us, he had his imperfections, and please note, I am not saying that he was not responsible for how he was doing. I am simply stating that we see a dying man who is crying out to the Lord, knowing His greatness, and still unable to get his flesh to submit to his soul soul or spirit. We also know that he has a lot of company.
Paul wrote in Romans 7:14 “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”
How are we supposed to react to our struggles? Are you struggling? If you are, you are not alone. There is an answer.
The Apostle Paul struggled. Peter’s struggles were very well documented. In the both the Old and New Testaments, we see people of faith, even Abraham, Moses, Samson, Gideon, struggle. Our nature at birth is upside down, where our flesh leads at all times, then we become Christians, and our Spirit begins to rule, submitting to God. That does not end the fight, though. Our flesh continues to burden us and fight us and try to “make a comeback”. We put it to death, but we have to do that daily, and remember that we are but dust, and that we are going to make mistakes. We need to continue, even when things are as hard as they can be, or when you can’t see where hope is an option, or if death may even be around the corner.
So on the birthday of the king of rock and roll, who died so young, I will join him later and sing along with the song he sang to the King of Kings.