Romans 7:15-25a (NRSV)
Read Romans 7:15-25a on biblegateway.com
Verse 15I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Verse 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. Verse 17But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. Verse 18For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. Verse 19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Verse 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. Verse 21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. Verse 22For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, Verse 23but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Verse 24Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Verse 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.
Devotion
Why is it hard to do things we should? Why do stress and busyness invade our lives, taking our attention from God’s will? Why can’t we delight in God’s law?
The Apostle Paul struggled with the gap between who he was and who he was called to be. He saw a division between life captive to sin and life lived in the wonder of faith. The man who persecuted the church was set free to see the truth, yet struggled to live according to the law.
God’s law is good, but it ultimately cannot bring life. Only the promise of God given in Christ can rescue us from this “body of death.” Why does God do it? That is the key to living the Christian life. Like Paul, we aren’t who we should be, but like Paul, can we yet proclaim good news? Indeed we can, thanks be to God!
Prayer
Thank you God, for we are not who we should be, yet you have set us free from this body of death so we can serve you. Stir us up, to live according to your call, to proclaim good news! In Christ Jesus' name, Amen.