EXPLORE IT - Romans 7:21-25

Romans 7:21-25   So I find this law at work: When 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 the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  ²⁵ Thanks be to God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Through the years, I have heard people say they are too much of a mess to come to church, that they need to get their lives cleaned up before coming to God, or they struggle to much with sin to be of any use to God.  If you can relate to these ideas, you will be able to relate to this week’s passage in Romans.

In our passage this week, Romans 7:21-25, Paul cries out, “What a wretched man I am!” (v24).  Wretched is not a word we use very often these days, but to be wretched is contrary of being blessed.  A wretch is someone who is miserable and is in mental or emotional distress…someone who is far from God.  When we are far from God, we are slaves to the sin in our lives and try as we might, we are not able to do anything about it.  We cannot rescue ourselves from sin.  Paul asks, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (v24b) and then continues with the good news, “(but) thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!”  The NIV translation leaves out the “but” that is in the original Greek text which connects our problem with God’s solution.

Our hope comes from Jesus Christ!  We don’t have to be “wretched,” we can be “blessed!”  We are not too messed up to come to church or a lost cause for God.  He meets us where we are, just as we are.  Even if you’ve sinned and taken a few steps away from Jesus, He’s waiting with open arms for you to come back to Him.  So maybe it’s the first time or maybe it’s the one hundred and first time, turn to Jesus for He is the one who will rescue you from death!

Blessings,
Pastor Amy