Monday 16 Jul 2018

July 16: Romans 7:14-17

Key Verse: Romans 7:15
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

Devotion:
We all try… We all would like to do things right… But, somehow, we always end up messing things up at some time or another. We know the right way of doing things and yet we persist in doing things we know are not right. What do you think that looks like to others?

I do not want to lay a guilt trip on anyone but just to get us all to think before we act. We live in a world where people are acting first and then thinking afterwards, right from the very tops of our governments down to us… Living our lives with double standards will only lead to disappointment and friction between us. We need to realise why we do things and know we are all still human. We live in a world of sin and because of that we get carried away with things we do. We do not always like what we do and certainly do not mean to go out of our way to hurt people, but we just seem to do a good job of it sometimes!

There is no way we can live up to God’s standards because we are weak and give in to sin. But that does not mean we should stop trying! We know we are going to trip up and fall at some stage, but at least trying to do right will allow others to see we are trying. God knows we cannot leave sin behind us, but He sure does want to see us at least trying… Yes, we do live in a world of sin. Yes, we do give it to sin. Yes, we do say one thing and do another. It is not because we are bad people; it is simply because we are caught up in sin.

If we continue to rely on ourselves more than on God, we are effectively re-writing God’s instructions to say we should do our own thing before doing God’s will. We know we are not perfect because we continue to do things that we tell others they should not be doing… Let Christ in to help you to rely less on sin in your life. Rely less on yourself. Rely more on God’s Word.

Points to Ponder:
Can you remember the last thing you did after telling someone else not to do it?

God continues to uphold what He tells us to do…