Wednesday 15 Aug 2018

August 15: Romans 7:9-13

Key Verse: Romans 7:12
So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

Devotion:
As I look back on my life as a new Christian (many years ago) I can see how I changed a little, but what is striking to look back on now is how much I used to sin; and guess what, I still do sin! We think of ourselves as people who are “ok”, not as bad as others but maybe not quite as good as some; what we are doing is leaving out The Law. As soon as we start to compare ourselves with God's Law, we start to see how much we do sin and how much we do have to let go of. As Paul writes, we become as dead people because there is so many little things we do not do as we did before.

The more we start to try and live as Christians the more we try to bend rules so we can live within our own comfortable world still. We like to think we are doing the right thing by bending the rules just a tiny bit so that we can still do some of the things from our past. Does that then make it ok to do a little sin? I think not...

It was God's Law that showed us we were sinners to start with. It was God's Law which showed us what we were doing wrong and that same Law which told us the punishment for our sins was death. That is why we turned to God in the beginning. Why then do we not have the strength to turn our backs on that life once and for all? Why then do we hanker after that life even after we know it is wrong?

The Law was made to be perfect, holy and just. It will always be perfect, holy and just. We are the ones who pick it up and change a few things so we can go with a “law” that fits our needs. We are the ones who corrupt it and pass it on as the real thing when it is not! Sin is what has corrupted the law and will continue to corrupt it in the same manner as dirty hands make other things dirty by covering the clean stuff with dirt... We need to take the law in its perfect, holy and just state and try our best to apply that law to our lives to show people the real law and not the dirty ‘copy’ we like to keep for a while! The commandments have not changed since they were given to Moses thousands of years ago – why should we think we could change them now?

Points to Ponder:
How many times have you “interpreted” rules to suit yourself?

Are you still trying to change God's Laws for your own sin?