AUGUST 4, 2014
All
We Need To Know
Read: Romans
7:18-25
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells. —Romans 7:18
In a Fernando Ortega
rendition of “Just As I Am,” Billy Graham’s voice can be heard faintly in the
background. Dr. Graham is reminiscing about an illness during which he believed
he was dying. As he mused on his past, he realized what a great sinner he was
and how much he continues to need God’s daily forgiveness.
Billy Graham was
putting an end to the notion that apart from God we’re okay. We can feel good
about ourselves, but that confidence must come from the knowledge that we’re
greatly loved children of God (John 3:16), not that we’re very good children
(Rom. 7:18).
The first step in
becoming a truly “good” person as a follower of Christ is to stop pretending
that we’re good on our own and to ask God to make us as good as we can be. We
will fail many times, but He will keep growing us and changing us. God is
faithful and—in His time and in His way—He’ll do it.
In his final years,
the writer of “Amazing Grace,” John Newton, suffered from dementia and lamented
the loss of his memory. Yet he confided, “I do remember two things: I am a
great sinner, and Jesus is a great Savior.” When it comes to faith, those are
the only things anyone needs to know.
The Lord has promised
good to me,
His word my hope
secures;
He will my shield and
portion be
As long as life
endures. —Newton
God’s grace accepted
is God’s peace experienced.
Insight
The Christian life is
one of struggle with sin and growth in holiness. On this side of heaven, we
will not be totally freed from this struggle (James 3:2; 1 John 1:8–2:1). In
today’s text, the apostle Paul writes of the war between good and evil that wages
within him. Elsewhere Paul explains, “For the flesh desires what is contrary to
the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict
with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want” (Gal. 5:17 niv).
Yet we can take comfort in the fact that Jesus delivers us from this “body of
death” (Rom. 7:24).
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
