I DON’T KNOW HOW TO DO IT!

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

I DON’T KNOW HOW TO DO IT!

Rom 7:18-19

18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.]

19 For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.

AMP

           If one such as the Apostle Paul had problems with performance then what hope is there for the rest of us? His inability did not rest with insufficient education because he was schooled “at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers.” ( Acts 22:3) So, attendance at Sunday school and Church will not make you a doer of what is right. Religious education may do nothing more than make us a judge of the actions and motives of others.

           Moreover, religious education may make us miserable judges of ourselves in the same way a mirror may make us sad and not glad. Worse than that, “ to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17) Paul had learned a cruel truth: “evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.” (Rom 7:21) AMP

           Paul had also learned a blessed truth. He had discovered forgiveness through the blood of Jesus and had given “management” of himself over to the Holy Spirit. Self-management had failed but Spirit-management was the remedy.

Rom 8:1

8 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Dear Lord, in the principles of righteousness, I am dull. In the performance of righteousness, I am all thumbs. Live out YOUR righteousness through me today. AMEN