Couldn’t resist… If you’re following the “Necessary Food” Bible reading plan I developed, you’ll know I read ahead today! Romans 7:7-25 can be a bit discouraging… But the last verse of Romans 7 (vs. 25 and Romans 8:1-11 (the passage for tomorrow) provides a victorious answer!!!Anyone identify with these words from the Apostle Paul this morning?
“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…it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that good itself does not dwell in me – that is, in my sinful nature. 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… 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 person I am! Who will rescue me…?!!” (words found in Romans 7.14-24 NIV 2011 edition)
I thought so … most of us!! Existentially true!! A tough read, but something we all identify with!
THE BEST WORDS IN THAT PASSAGE – THE MOST WONDERFUL WORDS ARE THE ONES THAT FOLLOW!!“Thanks be to God, Who delivers me though our Lord Jesus Christ!! … Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set me free from the law of sin and death!!” (Romans 7.25 – 8:2)
Is that strains of the “Hallelujah Chorus” I’m hearing!! I’m not a finished product yet! I still struggle and fail! I’ve experienced (and more often than I’d like to admit – still experience) what Paul wrote about in Romans 7.14-24. (And the sad admission of it is found in my journal … which incidentally happens to be password protected J) But He forgives and He is at work within me to transform my life! No condemnation!! The “law of the Spirit of life at work within me setting me free from the law of sin and death”!! (Romans 8:1-11) Pretty wonderful… and I’m very grateful!!
Coffee With The Lord 