Episode 71: Romans 7

Today's Meditation is based on Romans 7 from the Passion Translation

In the physical realm, when a person dies, it ends his obligation to the law. The same principle applies to my relationship with God. For I died to my first husband, the law, by being co-crucified with the body of the Messiah. So now I'm free to “marry” another — the one who was raised from the dead so that I may now bear spiritual fruit for God.

When I was merely living a natural life, the law, through defining sin, actually awakened sinful desires within me, which resulted in bearing the fruit of death. But now that I have been fully released from the power of the law, I am dead to what once controlled me. And my life is no longer motivated by the obsolete way of following the written code, so that now I may serve God by living in the freshness of a new life in the power of the Holy Spirit.

This doesn't mean the law was sinful. In fact, it was the law that gave me a clear definition of sin. When it said, “Do not covet,” it became the catalyst to see how wrong it was for me to crave what belongs to someone else. It was through God’s commandment that sin was awakened in me and built its base of operation within me to stir up every kind of wrong desire. For in the absence of the law, sin hides dormant.

I once lived without a clear understanding of the law, but when I heard God’s commandments, sin sprang to life and brought with it a death sentence. The commandment that was intended to bring life brought me death instead. Sin, by means of the commandment, built a base of operation within me, to overpower me and put me to death. So then, I have to conclude that the problem is not with the law itself, for the law is holy and its commandments are correct and for my good.

It isn't that something meant to be good become death for me. It wassn't the law but sin unmasked that produced my spiritual death. The sacred commandment merely uncovered the evil of sin so it could be seen for what it is. For I know that the law is divinely inspired and comes from the spiritual realm, but I am a human being made of flesh and trafficked as a slave under sin’s authority.

Sometimes I’m a mystery even to myself when I want to do what is right, but end up doing what my moral instincts condemn. But if my behavior is not in line with my desire, my conscience still confirms the excellence of the law.  I realize now that it's no longer my true self doing it, but the unwelcome intruder of sin in my humanity. I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but willpower is not enough to accomplish it. My lofty desires to do what is good are dashed when I do the things I want to avoid. So if my behavior contradicts my desires to do good, I must conclude that it’s not my true identity doing it, but the unwelcome intruder of sin hindering me from being who I really am.

Through my experience of this principle, I discover that even when I want to do good, evil is ready to sabotage me. Truly, deep within my true identity, I love to do what pleases God. But I discern another power operating in my humanity, waging a war against the moral principles of my conscience trying to bring me back into captivity as a prisoner to the “law” of sin.  What an agonizing situation I am in! So who has the power to rescue me from the unwelcome intruder of sin and death? I give all my thanks to God, for his mighty power has finally provided a way out through my Lord Jesus, the Anointed One! Left to myself, my flesh is aligned with the law of sin, but now my renewed mind is fixed on and submitted to God’s righteous principles.

Until next time, be blessed and be a blessing.

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