September 4, 2007
Have you ever felt something or seen something, knowing it was wrong, and reached for it anyway, 0nly to feel hurt or ashamed of it later?
In Romans 7, Paul explains one reason we get tripped up. He says we begin to focus on what we can’t do, instead of understanding the vast opportunities we have through Christ.
The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it.
The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me. Without all the paraphernalia of the law code, sin looked pretty dull and lifeless, and I went along without paying much attention to it.
But once sin got its hands on the law code and decked itself out in all that finery, I was fooled, and fell for it. [Romans 7:8-9 The Message]
Can I paraphrase (say it in a different way) this a little bit?
Let’s say that picking lint out of your belly button is declared a sin. Before you hear about this new law you could care less about the lint in your belly button. It’s a non-issue.
But the moment it’s forbidden, it becomes an issue. You think about it. You go all around the edges of your belly button, wondering if it is okay if you take just a little bit out. Pretty soon it’s all you can concentrate on.
You see others picking lint out of their belly button. In fact, there are reality TV shows dedicated to belly button lint pickers. The one who picks the most out in the shortest amount of time wins a million dollars.
All you want to know is “why can’t I do this?”
Silly example, I know, but in the beginning, the “law” was put there to show God’s people what could trip them up, or hurt someone or God’s plan for each person.
In Romans 7, verse 6, Paul explains it like this, “Without its clear guidelines for right and wrong, moral behavior would be mostly guesswork.”
It was a roadmap.
But it didn’t work. Rather than focusing on God and his abundant (lots and lots) love, they made a life out of focusing on the law and not God, or judging others on what they weren’t doing, completely misunderstanding that all God wanted was a relationship with his people.
That’s why He sent Jesus. Look at this verse in Romans 6. It’s powerful!
When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. [Romans 6:10 The Message]
Jesus removed the power of sin and brought God right down to us; in fact, in us–when we accept that gift of relationship.
But even with this gift, sometimes we forget! We start focusing on all the things that we can’t do — don’t have sex before marriage; don’t abuse your body; don’t be unkind to others or try to hurt them when you are angry — instead of focusing on Him, and what we CAN do.
Let’s be realistic. It’s all around us. Everybody else may be doing it. You might even wonder why you can’t.
But refocus!
Start your day by checking out His word, not as a duty, but as a conversation starter.
If sin entices you, see it as the belly button lint that it is, and it loses power in your life.
If you trip, get up and go directly to God and lay it all out in front of him, asking him to teach you so that you get up stronger and wiser.
Then your focus shifts. You’re not longing after a list of don’ts, but instead start to run after the “do’s”–the opportunities God has for you, and that’s amazing.
Debbie says:
Yeah, more and more I’m finding that when I end up in trouble, it’s because I turned my focus from God to something else and it always leads me into trouble.
Debbie