When you read the work of a great theologian like Paul you could be fooled into thinking that he lived a perfect life where everything was sorted and sin never even crossed his mind. I love and applaud Paul’s honesty, vulnerability, openness and candour in chapter 7. He says in verse 15, “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.” (NLT).

I suspect that’s a battle we all wrestle with. We all have a conscience – it’s a God given reminder that pricks us when we stray over the boundaries into error. We’ve been built with an innate knowledge of right and wrong and yet despite our best intentions we constantly find ourselves doing the wrong things. Welcome to the human condition! Paul said that he delighted in doing God’s will but he was conscious that evil was right there with him when he did it tempting him to do the things he knew were wrong.

The fascinating thing about his thinking is that he gives thanks for 2 things – the first is the law. He’s grateful for the rules and regulations that are set out to show us where the boundaries are. He says without them we wouldn’t understand what sin, or even what covetousness means for example, was (See v.7). The second thing is Jesus. He gives thanks for Jesus who is the one – the only one – who is able to rescue us from our place of sinfulness and desire. Without Him we have an outlook that is filled only with sin and death.

Praise God for laws and praise God for Jesus who saves us all from the penalty for failing to live up to them.

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Question:

What are you wrestling with now? What do you find yourself doing that you know is out of bounds? Have you laid it out at the feet of Jesus who can make all things right again?

Prayer:

Praise you God and loving Father for your perfect ways. Forgive us for our weaknesses. Forgive us for failing to live within the bounds of your laws. Praise you for Your Son Jesus and grant that we might walk with Him all the days of our earthly existence. Amen.