Bible In A Year | Read: Romans 7
‘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. ‘Romans 7:14-18
Off The Mark
Thoughts on the verses
Our Creator watched as greed, pride, and lust drove His people to unthinkable depravity. Longing to reconcile us to Himself, God established a guide for us to follow. There was just one problem: He required perfection. Surely, when the Israelites heard this, they must have been outraged. Perfection? We’ll never reach that! But, like a beacon of light, the Law exposed the damage we inflicted upon ourselves, revealing the desperation of our state and our undeniable need for a Savior. Yes, we were off course, but there was One coming to reunite us with Our Creator.
Overview of Chapter
Here we are warned about the wrong way to follow Jesus. If you remember back to Matthew, some of Jesus’ biggest opponents were the Pharisees. Paul had been one of those. He believed a relationship with God was earned by following rules. Here he warns followers of Jesus not to go back to that way of thinking. So, in chapter 6, he let us know we are dead to sin, and in chapter 7 he tells us we are dead to rule-following too. The hard thing about rule-following is that it only makes us aware of how bad we are and even causes us to desire the forbidden things even more. We won’t be given the right answer until chapter 8.
Trying to be a good Christian by following rules is a common mistake. It brings about failure and guilt. In those who do a reasonably good job of following the rules, it brings about pride and judgment of others. Find a Christian who feels defeated in his or her relationship with Jesus and you probably have found someone who is basing their relationship with Jesus on rule-following.
Action Steps
Bible: What is God showing me? What am I going to do about it?
Bless: Serve one person through word, action, or gift today.
Have you ever thought it would be cool to hear some C3 leaders discuss the daily verses, share about their lives and mostly just talk about nonsense? Of course not!…even though nobody has ever thought that we are still doing it. You can follow along with us each morning in a brand new podcast – Monday Comments & Aaron’s Left The Building.
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