today's passage: romans 7
Paul continues to talk about sin and evil vs. good and righteousness. i really liked this chapter because i feel like paul really voiced my own thoughts about sins. remember when i was very bothered by the fact that i still felt enslaved to sin, especially regarding my Golf Dilemma? well, here, paul describes his own struggles with the morality of his actions. i must warn you, dear reader, that i will be quoting a lot today :-) but mainly because i love the way he puts these ideas into words:
for what i do is not the good i want to do; no, 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: 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. (v. 19-23)
i liked that passage because it reminded me that i am not alone.. that i'm not the only one who often felt helpless about the sinful state that i'm in. but the important thing paul reminds us of is that the reason we even recognize anything as being "sinful" or "bad" is because of God's righteous laws. "...but in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful." (v. 13) this made sense. if there were no laws, how can you say someone is breaking the law? if God gave us no commandments, how can we say that we are sinning?
but the most encouragement i got from paul in this chapter is what follows the long passage above. from v. 24:
what a wretched man i am! who will rescue me from this body of death? thanks be to God -- through Jesus Christ our Lord! so then, i myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. (v. 24-25)
wow.. reminds me of when one of Jesus' disciples (i forgot which one) prayed that even though his body is weak, his spirit is strong, and he prays that God will help him. i think he was falling asleep during long prayers or something like that. so God will "rescue us from this body of death." but it all requires faith... hmm... faith.
k. very tired. g'night!
