Daily Failures

Romans 7:15-17   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.

I seem to be spending a lot of time in Romans lately. God is just speaking to me there. I came upon Romans 7 today where the great Apostle Paul speaks of his continued struggles with sin. He spends much time explaining how the Law (God’s commandments), reveals sin to us. Paul was a great sinner before he came to know Christ. He persecuted Christian’s as a zealous Pharisee, even to the point of death. Christ appeared to him in a blinding light and changed his heart forever. He also told Paul of how he must suffer as a disciple for Christ. Acts 9:16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Christ used Paul’s zeal to reach generations, change the world, and write much of the New Testament.

Paul was far from perfect. He still battled with sin; he still failed every day in some way. In his zeal he most likely agonized in that failure, for he desired with every fiber within himself to honor Christ and not fail in sin. But he also came to realize that he could not even live a day without the failure; for he will never achieve perfection as Christ. That conviction of your daily sin; conviction of the sin just committed; is an evidence of the Spirit living inside of you. Paul continues to agonize with this struggle. Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

We have the need to live every single day in God’s mercy and grace. We live in His mercy to not give us what we deserve. We live in His grace to give us what we do not deserve. These mercies and graces should be approached and spoken to before God in prayer. Especially when we feel those convictions of sin. We should desire to keep a humble, clear conscious in our relationship with God. This is key to hearing from God. Those unconfessed sins lie in the way of our relationship. Paul knows there is no hope for him but in Christ, and says so in his closing statement. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! When you fail today, and you will fail today, approach God in prayer. Plea for His forgiveness, and thanksgiving for His daily mercy and grace.