A New Devotion - This “Giving Up” Business

Here's a new devotion that I wrote. It's based on the passage below. You can find a recording of this devotion at the bottom of the page.

Romans 7:13-25 [Contemporary English Version]

Am I saying something good caused my death? Certainly not! It was sin that killed me by using something good. Now we can see how terrible and evil sin really is. We know that the Law is spiritual. But I am merely a human, and I have been sold as a slave to sin. In fact, I don't understand why I act the way I do. I don't do what I know is right. I do the things I hate. Although I don't do what I know is right, I agree that the Law is good. So I am not the one doing these evil things. The sin that lives in me is what does them.

I know that my selfish desires won't let me do anything that is good. Even when I want to do right, I cannot. Instead of doing what I know is right, I do wrong. And so, if I don't do what I know is right, I am no longer the one doing these evil things. The sin that lives in me is what does them.

The Law has shown me that something in me keeps me from doing what I know is right. With my whole heart I agree with the Law of God. But in every part of me I discover something fighting against my mind, and it makes me a prisoner of sin that controls everything I do. What a miserable person I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is doomed to die? Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me.

So with my mind I serve the Law of God, although my selfish desires make me serve the law of sin.

This “Giving Up” Business

A couple of hours ago I had a conversation with a woman in my congregation and somehow we drifted onto the subject of cakes. Now I honestly don’t remember how that happened, but it did. Anyway, right before she left, she told me that she was going home to bake a chocolate birthday cake for her husband without icing, because that’s the way he liked it. Now I already knew that she’d given up sugar for Lent, and so I asked her if she planned to eat a little bit of the cake herself, especially since cake is kind of like bread if you take away the extra chocolate fudge or the butter cream. And I’ll tell you, to her credit, she said no, but after a brief pause, she also said that she might have a little something at her grandson’s birthday party next week. 

Of course, I have an enormous amount of respect for anyone who can make and keep a commitment like she has, because doing that kind of thing has always been a challenge for me. I mean, although I can dedicate myself to doing something extra and positive, it’s hard for me to give up something that may be negative and enjoyable. For example, I can’t even seem to stop biting my fingernails even though I know it’s not only a bad habit, but it probably doesn’t enhance my status in the minds of others. You see, even though I know it’s wrong, I can’t stop doing it. And that’s probably the reason I’ve never liked this “giving up” business, you know, the stuff we generally associate with both the new year and Lent. 

And you know, it’s interesting, that’s exactly what Paul wrote about in the passage I just read. You see, as he looked at his life, he was forced to acknowledge his unfortunate relationship with sin. I mean, according to what he wrote, his own sin was shown by the fact that he knew the difference between right and wrong and sincerely wanted to do what was right. Still, there was something holding him back, preventing him from being the kind of person he wanted to be. And for him, it was sin that was getting in the way, and this was something he was forced to recognize. And this recognition, well, it made him miserable.

And I think the same thing applies to us as well. I mean, even when our intentions are good, often we fail to do what we know is right. You see, just like it did for Paul, sin gets in our way too. And even though we should do what we can to mitigate its impact on us and those around us, we’re not able to erase its presence and influence in our lives. In other words, we are sinners. But before we surrender to misery, I think it’s crucial for us to claim the same hope that Paul understood, the reality that we’ve been rescued by Jesus Christ. You see, he died and the Father loves and the Spirit inspires even though we’ve done nothing to earn or deserve this kind of grace from God. In other words, we are just not able to give up sin. And yet God loves us anyway.