Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Yielding to the divine purpose of creation
Romans 7:14-25
Vs 25 “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”  
 “I didn’t want to do it, but I could not help myself”. We hear this when a person makes a mistake knowing that it was not the right thing to do. It is reasonable to say that all mankind has a basic knowledge of what is right and wrong, either through the written law of God or through the law of conscience embedded in the human heart, regardless of which race or religion they belong to. (Rom.2:12-16)

Genesis 1 talks about the divine purpose of creation for mankind, which was to live in the will of God in harmony among themselves and the rest of creation. Adam and Eve lived truly in the will of God when they depended on God’s knowledge. But the acquisition of the knowledge of good and evil for themselves led them and mankind to self-dependency for discerning good and evil and exercising it within the mortal limitations.

In the text for today’s meditation, Apostle Paul portrays the helpless condition of a person who has the knowledge of the law of God but fails to follow it. Paul admits that the law is spiritual, divine and good. In his mind he delights in it, wants to obey it, but is unable to do so because there is another law working in him—the law of sin. This situation is pictured as a battle between the desire to follow good against the sinful nature we inherited in Adam. Paul describes the sinful nature as overpowering the good, leading us to become slaves of sin, in a wretchedness that leads to death.

Paul uses the pronoun “I” many times in these verses, describing the futile attempts of self-dependency to follow the law of God while battling our own sinful natures. Our victory begins when we remove “I” from the equation and are directed to the cross of Calvary where our Lord delivered us through His atoning sacrifice. On the cross, Jesus not only paid for our sins but also destroyed the power of sin by disarming the principalities and powers, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2:13-15).

Jesus Christ opened a way for us to go back to our divine purpose through faith, by becoming a new creation in Christ. Faith is that path where we move from self-dependency to God dependency for an ongoing victorious Christian life and we can also confidently say “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
 
PRAYER
Lord, we admit that we all have the sinful nature in us, but we trust in you and lean on you to live in the power of the victory which you gave us through your death on the cross and resurrection.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
“My righteous one shall live by faith.”  Hebrews 10:38 

Abey Cherian, St.Thomas MTC, Yonkers, NY
Christian Education Forum, Diocese of NAE of the Mar Thoma Church

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