The Law is Spiritual

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin's power. For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that is good. So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin that lives in me. So I discover this principle: When I want to do what is good, evil is with me. For in my inner self I joyfully agree with God's law. But I see a different law in parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So, then, with my mind, I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin. Romans 7:14-25

Have you ever tried to unravel a ball of string that has become messed up and knotted, it takes a long while. I feel these passages are much like that lost ball of string. There is a beginning and an end and I must apply patience to work it through. If I am in a hurry and impatient I use scissors and cut out parts that could have been valuable to me.

If we are in a rush for a simple experience, an easy Christianity we will brush over these passages as 'too hard.' Yes what is found in them is the truth about our own lives. Without Christ I can think I am doing good, keep a good heart and then suddenly along comes self-righteousness and sin, or perhaps I will have someone offend me over nothing, then hatred is discovered not far below the surface of my glossy exterior.
 
At the crux is the truth, that without Christ I am nothing and deceive myself. I need Him as the centre of it all: 'Jesus at the centre of it all.' (Song by Darlene Zschech). Amen!

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