Friday July 16, 2021

Heavenly Father – help me start today with a clear heart and a clear mind ready to receive your word in a brand new way today. Amen.

Romans 7:14 – 25

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within 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! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

This has to be one of the most honest expressions of sin found in the Bible. It perfectly encapsulates the on-going struggle with desiring to do good, yet consistently finding ourselves doing bad. For Paul, it is crystal clear that no good resides in him, at least in his sinful nature. We want to do good but end up doing that which we don’t want to do. Every human being has struggled with this at some point, some more often than others. But we all deal with this. So Paul, in observing the broken, sinful state of human beings, asks a very logical question that I think we have all asked ourselves: Who can save me? When we come face to face with our wretchedness and realize that even though we want to do good, evil is right there attempting to thwart those plans, it becomes easy to give up and lose hope. But if we look at the rest of that passage from Paul, we find the reason to keep pressing on: “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” We have 100% access to a Savior who is more than capable of saving us. We have 100% access to the Spirit that is more than capable of guiding us. And we have 100% access to a Father that is more than capable of loving us through it all. Keep the faith, fight the good fight, and don’t give up.

Where in your life have you found yourself doing what you do not want to do, and struggling to do the good you do want to do?
Do you truly believe that Jesus is able to rescue you from the sin you find yourself doing?

Lord, these are your words. This is our story. Help me live in a way that honors you today and everyday. Amen.