Tuesday July 22

2 Chronicles 6:12-8:10

Romans 7:14-8:8

Psalms 18:1-15

Proverbs 19:24-25

"I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus."

Romans 7:22-8:1

One thing I really struggle with is beating myself up when I make a mistake. I'll forgot to do something I said I'd do. I'll go days without praying or reading my bible. I'll say something hurtful to someone I care about. I'll get angry and harbor hateful thoughts. All these are things that I do and I do them often. I know they are wrong and I still do them. Then I feel horrible about myself afterwards. I make sure I really let myself have it. I screwed up and I should feel bad.

Except that's not what God wants for us. I love that we are reading the first part of Romans 8 along with the last part of 7. Romans 7 is Paul telling us in detail what an awful sinner he is. But by the end he says that he has hope because of Jesus. 8:1 tells us that there is no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus. God doesn't condemn us, so we certainly should not condemn ourselves.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't acknowledge our sins to God and ask His forgiveness. What we shouldn't do is get hung up on our sinfulness to the point of feeling worthless and hopeless. God knows the depth of our hearts and He knows the sinfulness that we are capable of. And yet He loves us despite all that. 

Be thankful and praise God that we are free from condemnation because of Jesus.