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June 4, 2020

Romans 7:21-25
So I find this law at work: Although 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 me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
New International Version (NIV)

In my early years at Tallowood, through the good graces of friends I got to meet the men who had discipled me without knowing me. Richard Foster installed me with a prayer as I sat in a chair in my office. He and Dallas Willard had spoken to me through their books. Now when I read their books I hear their voices speaking. Dallas once said, “We want to do good, but we are prepared to do evil.”

As an unregenerate person, Paul understood this. There was a time when he wanted to do good but couldn’t. On the other hand, the bad things he said he would never do he found himself doing. This Jekyll/Hyde existence left Paul perplexed. As a disciple of Jesus his inner being delighted to do the law of God. But another law was also at work making him a prisoner of the law of sin.

One poet described it this way, “Inside me there lives an eagle that wants to soar, and a hippopotamus that wants to wallow in the mud.” Who are we today? Eagle or hippo? As I shared Christ at the “Dew Drop Inn” in Waco, a man at the bar said, “There is a time for God and a time to get drunk.” He chose the latter not the former.

This spiritual schizophrenia persists even when we resist. It can be discouraging. Paul cries out, “Who will rescue me from the body of death?” Hear the despair? Then Paul answers his own question and ours: “Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Are you ready to get off the spiritual merry-go-round? The moment we cry out to God for help, we discover that his perfect provision has always been available in Jesus Christ. Say his name. Breathe it in a prayer, and find he’s already there. “Through our God we shall do valiantly,” wrote the Psalmist. Christ who looked like he lost on the cross, rose victorious on the third day. When all seems lost, God snatches victory from the jaws of sure defeat. We are in his capable hands. We are prepared to do evil. But he is prepared to save us. Will we be saved? Call on his name.

Pray with me:

O Lord Jesus, we come to you. Where else can we go? You have the words of life. Deliver us from death. Liberate us to the life you have purchased for us with your own precious blood. Dispel our gloom and fill us with hope, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Join us in memorizing the Word. Scripture for this week:

Matthew 5:47-48

And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Our 2020 Every Day with Jesus readings will follow the Foundations New Testament reading plan. Copies of the reading plan are available at Tallowood Baptist Church, or download your copy at REPLICATE.ORG

We would love for you to join us as we read the New Testament through this year, five chapters a week. In addition I will continue my long-standing practice of reading one Psalm a day through the year. Use Robby Gallaty’s H. E. A. R. plan to study each chapter (also found at REPLICATE.ORG). Highlight verses which speak to you, explain what they mean in your own words in a journal, apply them to your own life, then respond by doing what God tells you to do.

Joyfully,
Duane

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