Monday, April 13, 2009

No Condemnation

Romans 7:14-8:4
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. 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. 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. 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.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 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. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 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. (Life Through the Spirit) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

We had long night. Micheal and I are both feeling the emotions of the crappy economy (truth be told, I have avoided the news for at least 6 months because I just can't allow myself to get as upset as it makes me), Easter with family (which was good but always stressful with an over-stimulated 4 year old), normal house & finance stresses, and then the sleep-on-the-bathroom-floor-stomach-flu hit Micheal quite suddenly last night. And I had a check-the-clock-every-20-minutes-night last night. Which naturally cycles into the 'why me?' and 'what have I done to deserve this?' monologue... And this verse sprang to mind, specifically verse 8:1 in bold above. So here is my paraphrase:

I am unspiritual.
I keep doing things I know I shouldn't and don't want to.
God knew I would, and knows I do, and He sent Jesus anyway.
Jesus is my Rescuer and Hero!
Nothing I do changes God's love for me!
No condemnation! Today I am resting in that. What a gift!

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