So i was thinking about how the title of my blog relates to the Christian walk, so I came up with a few things:
This winter, I woke up and got dressed one fine morning. It was only until one of my housemates asked (somewhere along the lines of), “Are you really wearing shorts outside today? It’s like 20˚out there!” Then I realized that my wardrobe probably needed changing. Since that day I’ve bought a few more pairs of pants, but still, every now and again I find myself wearing shorts in the cold out of habit.
Now why do I tell you this? Yes it is a silly, random story and you probably are thinking about where this is going, but I’m going to tell you so stop thinking and just read ;-).
The truth is that I had grown so accustomed to wearing shorts during the year that it was inevitable that my habit would roll over into a climate that wasn’t suitable for wearing shorts. I didn’t want to be cold. In fact, I’m one of those people that will talk to random people without hesitation. So, one day, I told someone in the Cafe (Cafeteria) that I was extremely, unbearably cold, and with a blank stare, they just looked at me as if to say, “Duh! You bimbo! You’re wearing shorts and its freezing outside!” Words couldn’t express that face, and I finally got the picture.
I tell you this because it relates to our Christian walk:
Romans 7
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. [fn] 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.
I didn’t want to be cold, but I had grown so accustomed to wearing shorts that I ended up being cold because of the trend that I had fallen into. It’s the same thing with sin; we fall into trends that are hard to get out of; sometimes we fall into things that we’ve put so much effort and time into that they are hard, and often costly to get out of. Just like when I had to pay for pants, to get out of the shorts cycle, we sometimes have to pay up and sacrifice to get out of that sin.
Ever since the garden of Eden we were born into sin, so by nature we are wholly worldly, and slaves to sin -- it’s what we put time into, value and worship (see previous blog) -- and yet there is a part of us that says at some point that it’s wrong to sin: the Holy Spirit speaks to us and says that our sin is shameful to God. Those who have this pull/desire to do what is right are the Christians in the crowd. Yet, Paul, a man after God’s own heart, counts himself as the chief of all sinners and even goes as far to say that evil lives within him (what’s up with that? I thought he was a good Christian guy…)
The truth of the matter is that evil, just like good, lives within everybody, it is up to us to accept either, what is form God (the good), or what the devil has brought (evil). So Paul find fault in himself because he still chooses the evil, even though HE KNOWS WHAT THE GOOD THINGS ARE! (sound familiar). Most of the time we find the evil to be more appealing, even though that’s completely bogus (yet I do it too). A war is waging in our minds, the battle for good over evil : the human paradox!
All of this sounds quite depressing: evil is what we choose --and such -- but it gets better: on our own we can’t choose the true good! The “good”-news -- here comes the heavy! -- is that there is a way out! It is true that on our own we will fail, but with God Good prevails! In my mind (by myself) I am a slave to sin, BUT God alone has the power to rescue me from this body of death (the wages for our sin) and cleanse my worth and make me whole again!
The Good News that we have, and are supposed to share, is that God is the way, the truth, and the life.
Questions from this blog:
· Have you ever felt the pull to not do the things you do? (sin)
o If yes, did you put your trust in the Lord to help you overcome them?
o Do you believe?
· Are you aware that you in nature are evil and can’t do anything without God’s help?
o Are you worshiping God?
o Are you putting time and value in the Creator? Or the creation?
· If you do believe, are you sharing what you know to be true? (often we share what we value and hence worship [addressed in future blogs])
