Seen in broad daylight

Romans 7:7-13

⁷ Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.” ⁸ But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. ⁹ At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, ¹⁰ and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. ¹¹ Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. ¹² But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good.

¹³ But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.

We have been set free from the Law, Hoo-rah! It sounds as if we have been released from the powers of an evil overlord. Anyone would think that the Laws God gave to Israel in the Old Testament must be themselves evil.

By no means is this true!

God is telling me here that His Laws are like a bright light in the darkness. God’s Laws show me the way to living a holy and beautiful life. They also show me the way to death and destruction, displaying the ugliness of evil.

God has made very clear to me the way in which I must walk if I want life. His Law makes clear that death and destruction are the consequence of walking in sin.

My sinful nature saw that now God’s way was made clear, so it took the opportunity to rebel to God’s face. My rebellion was no more unclear, it was seen in the broad daylight.

My God, I thank you that the Law became flesh, Jesus Christ. You walked the earth as a light in the darkness and you touched sinners like me. As the perfect man you died a sinners death in my place and you rose to life victorious over death. You fulfilled the perfect Law of God. I thank you that the way to life is found in faith in you Jesus.

Written by Andrew Mellor