These are Paul's words to the Romans (verse 7:24).
-NOTE: this is the third in a series on "Sin" that began on Sunday 4/19 and will conclude tomorrow. (Unless you tell me you want me to continue blathering on about it. YOU decide.) Did I mention you can leave comments at any time?-
There’s a whole section in Chapter 7 of Romans titled, "Struggling with Sin." In my Bible, half the portion is underlined.
I might have saved time by circling the entire page with pink highlighter, starring the margins, and drawing huge messy arrows pointing toward Romans 7:14-25.
I posted Romans 7:18-20 on Sunday. Romans 7:14-17 is more of the same great stuff (though not as detailed as I'd like it to be).
Here is the text of Romans 7:21-25a:
"...When 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 the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!"Based on your comments from the other day, most of you have already glommed on to the “through Jesus Christ our Lord!” part. This is Good News! It kinda screwed up the series I had planned for the week but I’m flexible.
When I first read Romans 7:14-25, I thought, "This is awesome!" I love when the disciples admit to this kind of stuff. I also thought, "surely these sins are of the charming, innocuous variety."
If there is such a thing.
Help me out here, ladies. I'm really not trying to drag Paul into the gutter with the rest of us (OK, me).
But since I started pondering sins (as opposed to simply committing them) I have wondered -- what could Paul be referring to?
Does anyone know?
7 comments:
ha ha ha -- that is hilarious. You want the Days of Our Lives version of Paul's sin(s)!!!! I'd like to hear it, too. And then that begs the question -- isn't it also a sin to want to know the dirt on someone else?!!
-annie
You are such a smart, funny (and beautiful) woman! Thanks, Annie. xoxxo, Cheeks
SIN! We all know its familiarity in our lives. What is the "sin" that the
enemy would like to tempt us with - the one that brings to to defeat,
the one that I think Paul calls "the one we need to be rescued from?"
Each reader might deal with a different one (or two, or three . . .)
from another - mine is FOOD! Daily I deal with, "Well, I lost a pound
so I can have this bowl of ice cream today." NO, I can't because I haven't reached my goal. Paul was just like us - dealing daily with "something!" Let's not beat ourselves; let's turn to the RESCUER from
temptation. He can and does deliver us from the POWER and PRESENCE of that "sin that so easily besets us!"
Ah, yes, gluttony is also a favorite -- I mean frequent -- sin of mine.
Have sabotaged every diet I ever attempted because the way I reward myself for progress of any kind is with food.
Thanks for the reminder to turn our sins over to Christ. And for reminding us even beautiful church ladies like you are human.
Sin and Satan's lies are the reason I need to start my day in the word with quiet time praying and talking with the Lord before I start my day..put on the full armor of God. I will go into a tailspin by the end of the day if I don't start with my daily dose of God's wisdom. I've neglected my quiet time way too many times I should learn to never let this happen again, but being a single mom it's easy to let it slip. By accepting Christ He gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit within us always if we choose to listen and gives us continued moral guidance. I also believe we need to focus way more on God, His power and His plan and control in our lives which is way, way, way bigger than our sins and problems and lessen the the focus and power on Satan and the sins. God's power, grace and forgiveness were won at the Cross..Praise Jesus for this!
Ms. B
Poor Paul and poor us! Paul knows that his real inward man loves and delights in the law of God but he also knows that the impulse to sin comes from within us also. Sin is able to war within Paul and win because there is no power within himself, other than himself, to stop sinning. Paul is caught in the desperate powerlessness of tying to battle sin in the power of "self". He is "desperate" for the deliverance God can give. We need to come to the same desperate place to find victory in God's law.
Linda Ross
Ms. B, thanks for the reminder about focusing on God's power. I hope today's leaders (e.g., "Paul's") are sustained by the power of the Lord and not dragged down by our human expectations.
Linda, thank you for your beautiful perspective also. Your comments reminded me of the line - don't know who said it - "He can't be all you need 'til He's all you got."
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