Wretched man that I am!
Who will set me free from the body of this death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Romans 7:24–25
A snowstorm one week. 100° the next. I wish I could blame the discontent swirling around in my heart on the crazy weather. But this self-condemnation has more to do with my inward spirit than outward circumstances like snow and heat.
For several years, I’ve searched my heart and confessed my sins. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, the same issues rise to the top of my daily sin parade. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, I ask forgiveness and beg God to change my heart. To conform my mind to Christ. To give me His power to think, speak, and act in accordance with His will.
Every day, I fail. I judge others harshly. I brag about my accomplishments. I’m not satisfied with what God provides. I doubt His provision for tomorrow. I choose my agenda over His. I seek the approval everywhere but in God.
Some days, I epic fail. My actions and words hurt others because I consider only my own needs. I say unkind things to my husband, who is one of the kindest men on earth. I doubt God because my struggle with sin goes on. And on. And on.
In Romans 7:15, the apostle Paul describes a similar struggle: For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. In the following verses, Paul piled up more ls and mes:
I do the very thing I do not want to do…
So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me…
For I know that nothing good dwells in me…
For the good that I want, I do not do…
I find then the principle that evil is present in me…
Wretched man that I am!
Finally, Paul asks a desperate question: Who will set me free from the body of this death?
When the apostle looks outside of himself, the answer comes: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!…Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
When the burden of our personal sin weighs upon our hearts, when the condemning Is and mes, hope can only come outside ourselves, when we look to the One who bore our sins and freed us from them (whether we feel free or not), when we rest in the certainty of His abundant forgiveness and grace.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
