Romans 7:15-25a (NRSV)
Read Romans 7:15-25a on biblegateway.com
Verse 15I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Verse 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. Verse 17But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. Verse 18For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. Verse 19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Verse 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. Verse 21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. Verse 22For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, Verse 23but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Verse 24Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Verse 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.
Devotion
David was 16 months old, a very busy boy, racing matchbox cars and trucks, doing puzzles and snuggling next to Grandma, reading favorite books. While working in the kitchen, I put his baby brother in his car seat on the kitchen floor. Running through the kitchen door, David threw a matchbox car. A direct shot hitting the baby in the forehead!
Classic sibling rivalry. Bad human behavior. At one-and-a-half, David couldn’t help himself. But years of discipline and the modeling of good behavior at home, at church, and at school have helped—as has the ever abiding presence of God’s grace.
Last fall I attended David’s confirmation. An important passage of life. Amidst tears, prayers, and laying on of hands, pastors, parents, grandparents, siblings, and sponsors joyfully affirmed his baptism and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in David’s life. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Prayer
Gracious God, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit, filling our lives with abundant grace. Amen.