true power

Tuesday July 5th, Romans 7: 17-20 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. The true power of the law is that it drives us, and eventually all people, to our knees. If we see sin as that which we do, we can hold onto the illusion that at least for a while that we can make it or at least fake it. If we see sin as a part of who we are, we know there is no way to make it on our own. Sin is that which separates us from God, and the sin that most often separates is the sin of believing we are not so bad, and therefore, on some level may pay homage to God but not really need God. That’s the faking it part. It is the law that shines the light on the sin of who we are, and when we try to escape, it shines the light on the doors that are all locked up by sin, leaving no way out except through the cross and Christ. It is there we find life.