We have a problem with our will. We think our will is important. We think our will is what defines us. Even though we are instructed to pray against our will in the Lord's Prayer (Thy will be done: God's will is done when He breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature...) - God's Will is to be done, not mine!
But surely, once we are redeemed, we must bring our will, our reason, our thoughts, our decision making in line with God - we must improve our will, we must train it better! Hence we love a nice, "corrective" use the of the Law, thinking it's just nudging our will back into shape, like honing a knife. No big deal, this will just keep you sharp. Then we will be better Christians!
There's a problem with this. The Law doesn't give life or make alive. Nor does my will make me alive or better. The Christian life is not "make better choices". The Christian life is one of fruit.
Consider the fruit of the Spirit. What "choice" does the tree have regards to the fruit? It has none. The tree doesn't have to will to make fruit, it doesn't have to choose to make fruit, it doesn't have to will it; if the tree is healthy, it will simply produce fruit because that is what God has created it to do. No choice required, and no ample sermons yelling at the tree will make it produce better fruit (except humanly speaking that the Carbon Dioxide expelled as you yell at it is plant food). It is the tree that God has made it to be; it will bear fruit as He gives it to bear fruit.
Now, there are things that get in the way. If the tree is diseased, it bears bad fruit. The solution here isn't a matter of the Tree's will, but it's curing the disease. Make the tree good (justify it), and the fruit will be good. If the tree lacks water - it must be watered by another (extra nos) - the refreshing streams of life must be poured upon it.
None of that growth hinges upon the will. Neither do my works hinge upon my will, my making better decisions, my choices. I am who I am in Christ. He does it all through me.
Now, I DO see, when I am made to look at myself by the Holy Spirit using His Law, to see that there is a war within myself. That my own flesh hinders and keeps me from doing the good. Like a dam in the river, my sin repeatedly stops the flow of the good, clean river through me, making everything a muddied, swampy mess. The solution is not to exhort the river, but to clear out the dam. To remove the log so that the eye sees clearly. To mortify the flesh and to receive again the forgiveness, LIFE, and salvation of Christ.
We notice that from the Small Catechism, right? That my life is not a "choice" - that it is not a result of my will, nor is it the summation of my choices. It is a gift, given to me, something I receive from outside myself right along side of and exactly at the same time as I receive forgiveness, for "where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation." Life is tied not to my choice, not even my being better guided by the law; it is tied to forgiveness. It's tied to Christ who is indeed the Life of all the living.
We make an idol of our will. We think our will improves things (or even can improve things). We're not impious enough to say that our decisions justify us, and maybe we won't say that they sanctify us (although a lot of us like the Shake and Bake approach to Sanctification where we like to talk about our help... as though one who who is made Holy can help in being made holy!), but man, we do slide into that idea that our will will in fact make our lives better. We think we "vifify" ourselves... but our lives, our works, our new obedience isn't from us. It's all from Christ Jesus!
But what if I'm not being used well enough? Well - who told you that you were naked? Who told you that you weren't a "good enough" instrument? Have you been listening to accusations again? Has the Accuser risen up against you? Guess you need to Gospel to drive those accusations away. Because you are Christ's, and He will use you as His own instrument whom He loves and cherishes dearly, loves even more than His own life.
Everything else is sinking sand. Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith, the Alpha and the Omega.
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