Reflections on God's travel guide to my journey back home.

Friday, February 16, 2018

helpless but not hopeless

Was there ever a writer who could capture the human condition like Paul? Who was as honest about it?

Look at this, from Romans 7:21-25: “So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

I’m wrapping up a week on the road. I had a lot of good intentions, to eat well, to work out, to write, to connect with family and friends. I had free evenings, and the choice of what do with them was mine.

What I did was read a novel, watch Netflix (and some Olympics), eat way too much lousy (but tasty) food, and sleep a lot. Evil? Maybe not, except none of it fed my soul for made me healthier in any sense. None of it helped anyone else. It was all a self-indulgent waste of time and opportunity.

Even now, as a grandpa, I need adult supervision or I’m prone to sinful time-wasting and opportunity-squandering. Like Paul, I still need someone to save me from myself. And so this morning I pray those words Paul wrote: “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Today is a new day, one I can live for him. I serve a Lord of new beginnings.

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