The answer really is Jesus!

Romans 7:14-25

¹⁴ So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. ¹⁶ But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

¹⁸ And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. ¹⁹ I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. ²⁰ But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹ I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. ²² I love God’s law with all my heart. ²³ But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. ²⁴ Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? ²⁵ Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

I’ve heard it said one of the best and most honest prayers we can pray is “Oh God have mercy on me a sinner.” I don’t know about you but I long for the day that my sin won’t be an issue any more; when this wretched man is gone and replaced by the clean version of me who’s ready for heaven. 

In the meantime, I find a strange comfort; the dread and sorrow at my own shortcomings is, in one sense, a gift. They show me that I am different and changing – I don’t want to do the things I used to do. I didn’t manufacture this longing for rightness. God did that! The only way that could ever happen is if He is in my life. What a great encouragement!

And in the end, I run even harder to Jesus. He, and He alone is my righteousness! It is His righteousness that makes me fit for heaven, not my own. The answer really is Jesus!

Thank you, Jesus, for paying the penalty of my sin on the cross and offering me back your righteousness. With a grateful heart I humbly accept.   Amen

Written by B van Noppen