Influences of the World.

Romans 7:21-25
21 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.

Do you find anything interesting or ironic about this scripture? I'm not saying that the rest of the Bible isn't true, but today's reading just seems to be so true in today's age that it hits the nail on the head.

My point is that I'm sure a majority of us want to please God in everything we do. However, everything else seems to give us a different idea, including: music, Hollywood, or even friends that try to convince you to do something wrong like stealing. These can easily transform our Godly thoughts into secular thoughts. After all, sometimes it's just easier to not think about or do what's right.

Notice how the Apostle Paul in this scripture called himself "wretched." Everyone is struggles with this concept. When he says wretched he means "hopeless." This coincides with how we feel after we realize our temptations today. We feel terrible for making God upset.

If Paul's such a "good" person then how can we possibly experience a restoration of hope?

It's all because of Jesus. I mentioned yesterday that Jesus made us so that we weren't completely perfect, and therefore he knows everything we have to face. Why? Because he himself experienced loneliness, abandonment, discouragement, and temptation. Jesus doesn't want us to have that wretched feeling. He cares about us. He wants us to be hopeful and knowledgeable about his love for us. Lastly, he can guide us through our temptations! You can be easily led through temptation by praying to the one who cares. Do what it takes to be strong and don't be afraid to remove those guilty feelings and turn them over to God.

“Good habits result from resisting temptation.” ~Unknown Proverbs

Here's a comforting song for today..."Oh Happy Day" by Tim Hughes:



P.S. If you have trouble with the video stopping and starting, keep the video paused, and let it "buffer" (load) as it's called for a while. You will see the red bar along the bottom advance (speed depends on your Internet connection). Wait until that bar gets pretty far along (I'd say more than halfway) before you play the video and it shouldn't pause.