“I DO NOT UNDERSTAND!”

 Romans 7:13-20                      (RSV)

“[13] Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. [14] For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. [15] For “I DO NOT UNDERSTAND” MY OWN ACTIONS. For I do not do what I want, but I DO THE VERY THING I HATE. [16] Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. [17] So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. [18] For I know that NOTHING GOOD DWELLS IN ME, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but NOT THE ABILITY TO CARRY IT OUT. [19] For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. [20] Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but SIN THAT DWELLS IN ME.”

For a long time, the above Scriptures have been some of my favorites.  Paul, the author of the Letter to the Roman Church (Romans 1:1), was SO much more articulate than I ever expected to be, even before the Brain Hemorrhage in 2007. Yet even he had a difficult time finding the words to properly articulate why sin was so difficult to overcome in his life?  

Paul wrote in Romans 7:15 “I DO NOT UNDERSTAND” MY OWN ACTIONS, giving us ample evidence that he disapproved (putting it mildly!) of his actions.  The SIN THAT DWELLS IN ME caused him MUCH grief, and even takes up much of this chapter of his letter to the Roman Church.  But the final verses of this chapter say “WRETCHED MAN that I am! WHO will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to GOD through JESUS CHRIST our LORD! So then, I myself serve the law of GOD with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

We need to be reminded that we are not going to be able to “graduate” to PURE Holiness until we are in the presence of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!  I am “the foremost” (1 Timothy 1:15) of sinners, so I need to keep my EYES on JESUS and keep HIM as my FOCUS!!  Why do I live a seemingly defeated life at times?  It could be that “I DO NOT UNDERSTAND” that my righteousness is TOTALLY and COMPLETELY through the SACRIFICE of JESUS CHRIST, nothing that I have done nor will do!!!

Why was I CHOSEN (Ephesians 1:4) before the foundation of the world ??  That “I DO NOT UNDERSTAND”???