I read this passage the other day from Romans 7: 15-24:
"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. . . . I know that nothing good lives 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 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. . . . 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"
Do you ever feel like the part of you that feels tempted to sin is seperate from you? With ever part of you, you want to do the right thing, but you fall again. I guess it all goes back to "The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak". I mean, Paul wrote this passage. The apostle. Even after having Jesus here on Earth at his side, he was tempted by sin.
11 comments:
Interesting blog topic...I suspect this will be a nice change from the negativity surrounding politics. Sin is always a tintilating topic and of course we all indulge in some fashion in what we know is wrong. Rationalization is a powerful tool. I once saw a movie depicting the apostles after Christ was crucified and how they didn't believe it was him even though they had indeed eaten with the savior. One of the men said "I thought it was him but reason robbed my faith" He rationalized himself out of believing and so do we with sin. We rationalize our way out of doing what is right rather than choosing what we know is essentially better for our souls. I hope you get some readers who will engage in an ispiring topic rather than the ususal contentious topics that surround the blog world. And I hope that even though I am Mormon we can draw on common ground and not argue doctrinal differences. Clarity is far more important than agreement. The convincing of another that any given belief is wrong or right is far less important than an understanding of why a belief is held and of course doctrinal clarity. Religion can be far more explosive than politics, but I think it will be an interesting and engaging blog...:)N
Yes.
And then I try to remember that one, grace is free for all who ask. And two, I try to look up all the scriptures where God tells me how He sees me.
Good point.
Thanks for posting on the new blog, guys. I wasn't sure if anyone would find it.
What a great passage. A perfect reminder that we're no different today than we were when we first recieved our salvation. We may be declared positionally righteous in Christ, but we're certainly not sinless, since we still have our fleshly nature. The only way to conquer our sin nature is to die to self (our flesh), and live in the spirt of Christ.
Soooo easy to say... soooo hard to do...
Very well said.
This is new?
Well, I only visit established blogs.
Wait, that's two comments.... :)
Officially, 6 comments makes a blog official. Thanks for making two of them ;)
I'll make comment number 8. Now you are kind of a big deal. People know you.
Neo would look down on us for not doing what we CHOOSE to do.
But I completely agree with the separation of goal and action. Being what we want to be is a lot harder than it sounds.
I want a new post.
One that won't make me sick.
Make me feel 10 feet tall.
Or 3 feet thick.
- Huey Lewis and me (collaberating without his consent) ;)
Proverbs 3:5-7
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not unto your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."
This has helped me to surrender to His will and accept the reality that God is in control of ALL things. We are bent against Him until we submit to His will, given to us by the redemption Jesus brought us. Pride and arrogance keep us from surrendering to His will and while we are in these earthly bodies, it will always be a battle.
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