Thanks Be To God, Who Delivers Me Through Jesus Christ Our Lord!

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.

Romans 7:14-25

We are as powerless to live up to God’s standards as anyone else, which is why we all need Jesus.

Paul’s declaration that Christ is the author of our salvation and its resulting changes should thrill us. Jesus has already done the work to free us from the very things that have puzzled us.

The barrier between us and God, the barrier of sin, has been removed without any work on our part. Salvation – and these changes made by the Holy Spirit in the process of our growth – is what God desires for all. He knocks on the door of our souls. Answer His knock today. It’s no secret that He’s the answer.

Without Jesus, salvation and spiritual growth are both gifts beyond our reach.

Our Daily Bread – December 12, 2018