Stay The Course

[Lovekr07]

'Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man. So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 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. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 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. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 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. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 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.'



Romans 7:1-25

https://www.bible.com/bible/111/ROM.7.1-25



The law sets the standards of our lives. It is a moral compass, but it also exposes the corruptness of our sinful nature. The law is unable to save us for no one is capable of perfectly keeping it. Also, even when we do follow the law, our hearts may still condemn us. Jesus is the one who can change our hearts for He died for our sin and was raised from the dead, giving us victory over them. The Holy Spirit works in us to change our hearts and desires in order to bring fulfillment of the law. Instead of just empty works of the flesh, the Holy Spirit is literally changing our hearts and making us more like Jesus every day. Jesus fulfilled the law so that He would have the power to truly change our hearts and our desires. That is why we can sit back today and reflect on who we used to be and what we used to desire and struggle with and give God glory because those things now disgust us and are no longer desirable. That is exactly why Jesus died for us!!! It is true that we will never be sinless and perfect, but we will go from glory to glory and gradually be delivered from our sin as the Lord changes our hearts and gives us godly desires. This is probably one of His greatest miracles that we may even overlook at times. We are prisoners to our flesh until the day that we die, or Jesus comes back. There will always be parts of us that need deliverance from sin or limitation. Whatever we find ourselves struggling with is where we need deliverance. The place where instead of doing the good we want to do; we keep slipping up and having to confess and repent. As long as we are confessing and repenting of these whenever we do slip, we will see growth and will one day look back and celebrate our growth and eventual deliverance!!! Hallelujah!!! However, we must stay faithful to the course and not overlook our slip-ups. When we stay faithful to the course, daily confessing and repenting, we will find ourselves slipping up less and less and then eventually that area will no longer be an issue Hallelujah!!! Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for we will reap a harvest if we do not give up!!! Stay the course, my friends!! God bless!!!