Bruce the Bald Daily Devotional Wretched Man That I am 😩😩 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. While it is undoubtedly true that God views all of us the same, from an earthly point of view, Id have an impossible time naming a more sterling example of Christianity than the Apostle Paul. My only other candidate would be Billy Graham, but next to Paul, his contributions pale. And Yet. ( The Apostle Paul likes THEREFORE. I like AND YET) Paul, the shining light of Christianity, nonetheless was the author of that cry of lament above. There is an unfortunate phenomenon that happens to almost all Christians at one time or another. We approach a passage like the one above from Romans 7. We revel in what it has to say, but we stop short, and fail to take the one more step necessary for it to change us. That step is APPLICATION. When things are relatively good, we acknowledge the passages truth with a Really Cool, but then, when hard times come, when we do that really stupid thing we are prone to do, it becomes far too easy to forget what it is telling us, and Woe is me begins to rule. When you are a twenty, thirty, forty, or even fifty something, you may not arrive at this understanding, but I can tell you that, when you reach sixty, you are painfully aware of your failings. You have seen yourself hundreds, even thousands of times stumble over the very same stumbling blocks. For me, the very worst is poor impulse control. I have a feeling that the obsessive compulsive part of me is an unconscious tool to try to counteract my poor impulse control. If you were to walk around my townhouse right now, you would see the picture that is attached to this post. Below it are the words THIS IS IT. Now I am really praying that this IS it, but written between the words on that picture is the story of a thousand restarts. How many times have I promised God and my Mom that this is the time, I wont do that again. No More Charges. No more cinnamon rolls with raisins, at least not a dozen at a time, but again and again, I failed. That is the war that Paul is writing about in Romans 7. I absolutely cant ever be good enough. I can and will try. I need to try. Peter tells me that I need to strive to be holy as He is holy. Stand, though, on the truth of the following verse from John: John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. God has given us an advocate, someone to stand in when we get to those pearly gates. He will step in front of us, introduce us, and say This is my good friend Bruce. Let him in on my account. Please understand this truth about our nature and apply it to your life. You will stumble. ALWAYS!!!! Romans 8:22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Why is creation groaning? Because it recognizes the truth that, in our present form, we can never ever be good enough. Thank Goodness God starts the following chapter of Romans with this verse I finish with. Satan, read it and weep. You are not privy to any of us. Carry this truth everywhere you go. Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 20:43:57 +0000
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