Romans 7:19
19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
Does this sound familiar to anyone out there or am I the only one? If this applies to you, welcome to the club and you are in some great company, including Peter and Paul! Peter did not want to deny Jesus but his sinful flesh took over. Paul could have driven himself crazy obsessing over his failings. Read chapter 7 and you will see that Paul holds the law in high regard as a spotlight on our sins and our need for salvation. We are no longer under law but under grace. Paul wanted his readers to know that they were released from the law not because the law is sin, but because Jesus fulfilled it for us.
Many of us beat ourselves up over our sin and think “This time I really have done it. Jesus will never forgive me now!” Jack Miller, the missionary, used to say to people who thought this, “Smile, you’re worse than you think!” What he meant was that you cannot “outsin” the grace of God. Still others think they have accumulated too much sin time and it is too late for them. This is so sad. My own father said this to Vicki when she shared the gospel with him at the end of his life. He never did relent. Of course we sin! That’s why Jesus came and died for us! The sooner we see the sinner we are, the sooner Jesus will change what we are.