Me Too

DEVOTION
ROMANS
ME TOO
Rom 7:14-25
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 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. 19 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. 20 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. 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 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. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. NIV
What can I say, I know exactly how Paul feels as he expresses this reality, but I also must remember, it is not Paul alone who pens these words, but the mighty Spirit of God who has impressed upon him to write. God does know my heart, much as he proclaimed that David was a man after his own heart and yet David was anything from a perfect example of a man free from sinning. No, God does know me, and knows I desire to do that which pleases him, but fail because of the awfulness of my human nature. Granted I should never make a provision for myself, my old self, granted I should never be satisfied with those things I should not do, but do. Granted I should desire to be a Godly, holy person, in relationship with my Lord and doing that which pleases him the most. But I also must face the reality which is declared in these verses. I will not be perfect! Professing perfection, complete freedom from acts of sin, would simply be an act of sin in itself, spiritual pride, not counting lying, and being a whitewashed tomb and that is one of the worst, if I could number them in an order. How do I reconcile this behavior, I do not, but I have to recognize it is there. To deny it, to hide it from myself, for I cannot hide it from God, does more harm to me, then to deal with the reality openly and willingly before my Lord. So there it is, I am a human being, weak, and in desperate need of the free gift God offers, eternal life through faith and faith alone in his Son Jesus Christ.