It's Sunday...

And I am still thinking about the message Chad preached this morning. We are studying Romans 7, one of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible because I am glad that even Paul struggled with doing what he knows he ought not do.

However, Chad reminded us that trying to keep the law is futile. The more rules we are given, the more we want to rebel against them (caveat: of course, the Christian is always being sanctified- it is the Holy Spirit that prompts us to change and grow, not our own adherence to the rules). Chad's point is that we are to look to Christ to save us, not our obedience to the rules. Most of us would say, "absolutely!". But I do feel more righteous- self-righteous - when I happen to obey a rule, whether I set it for myself or someone else sets it for me. Then the temptation is to glory in my obedience instead of Jesus Christ and the grace that He extends to sinners like me.

A wave of peace and refreshment washed over me as I listened to this truth. Christ died for my sin, and Scripture says that I died with Him. My old self is dead and I am already a new creation. No matter how holy I try to make myself, I will fail again and again. I can't do it myself- I need faith, just faith that Christ is doing it in me. By praying and meditating on Scripture (instead of making rules and trying to keep them like the Pharisees), God is able to work in me to sanctify me. This is His promise. Amen.

"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God." Rom 6:8-10

Reach their hearts!