Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

FRIDAY JANUARY 22


A PRISONER NO MORE

READ:
Philippians 2:8
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[Jesus] humbled
himself.
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A middle-aged man approached me after I led a work-shop at his place of employment and asked this question: "I've been a Christian nearly my whole life, but I'm constantly disappointed in my self. Why is it that I always seem to keep doing the things I wish I didn't do and never seem to do the things I know I should? Isn't God getting tired of me?" Two men standing next to me also seemed eager to hear the response.

That's a common struggle that even the apostle Paul experienced. "I do not understand what I do," he said, "For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do" (ROM. 7:15). But here's some good news: We don't have to stay in that trap of discouragement. To paraphrase Paul as he writes in Romans 8, the key is to stop focusing on the law and start focusing on Jesus. We can't do anything about our sinfulness in our own strength. The answer is not "try harder to be good at keeping the rules." Instead, we must focus on the One who shows us mercy and cooperate with the Spirit who changes us.

When we focus on the law, we are constantly reminded that we'll never be good enough to deserve God's grace. But when we focus on Jesus, we become more like Him. ____Randy Kilgore

** I sometimes get caught in the cycle of trying harder to be good,
failing, getting discouraged, and giving up. Help me, Lord,
to depend on Your grace and to draw near to You so that You can
change my heart.
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Focus on Jesus.

***********************Todays Bible Reading __ Romans 7:15-25***********************
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 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in
my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I
cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but
the evil I do not want to do__ this I keep 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: Although 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 me, waging war against
the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of
sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will
rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 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.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
There is an interesting element in this passage
from the apostle Paul. We often focus on the difference between
law and grace. But Paul highlights two different laws in this
passage. It is not that the Mosaic law is bad and grace is good.
Instead, Paul says that he delights in God's law but is held
captive by the law of sin. God's law is something to delight in;
the sin that is revealed through that law is something to be set
free from. J.R. Hudberg