Romans 7:14-20 “Me”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, one sold under the sin, ¹⁵for I am not knowing what I am doing, for I am not practicing what I am desiring but what I am hating, this I am doing. ¹⁶But if I am doing this, what I am not desiring, I am agreeing with the law that [it is] good. ¹⁷But now I am no longer doing this but the sin dwelling in me. ¹⁸For I know that there is dwelling not good in me, that is, in my flesh, for to desire is being present with me, but to do the good [is] not. ¹⁹For I am not doing the good which I desire, but I am practicing this, [the] evil which I am not desiring. ²⁰But, if I am not doing that which I am desiring, I am no longer doing it but the sin dwelling in me.

I started the last blog stating that vv.7-13 are “an extended explanation of what Paul says in Gal. 3:24, that the law is a ‘schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.’” Now what I see in vv.14-20 is an extended explanation of Gal. 5:17, “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…” I am very thankful I studied the book of Galatians, as it really helped me, in a nutshell so to speak, to understand the very issues Paul addresses here in Romans 7. It is nice, then to see it all explained “beyond” the nutshell!

Several things I think need to be said up front. First of all, there has down through the centuries been endless “scholarly debate” about exactly who is in view here. People ask whether Paul is describing himself as an unsaved man or perhaps as one of those “unspiritual” Christians, or if he’s actually describing the experience of a real, born-again Christian. I too could enter into the debate, but let me just say this: I do not understand how any genuinely born-again Christian can read this passage and not see their own face in the mirror. What Paul is describing is exactly the battle I face every day and, in fact, the same battle you see throughout the entire New Testament. What is the import of basically every single book of the New Testament? Is it not, here are the things God desires you to do and to be, and here are the things He desires you not to do and not to be? Where does that leave us? With the struggle to see it happen, with “the flesh  and the Spirit in conflict with one another,” just as described more succinctly in Galatians. I frankly cannot believe saved people even debate the matter. The face in the mirror may be ugly, but I cannot deny it is mine! And what I see in the New Testament is that is the exact face being addressed on every page.

The second thing I want to say is that I don’t think this spirit/flesh thing is that difficult either. When the Bible refers to “the flesh,” it is referring to the Adamic me. In other words, it is the natural me, the one that was born in 1957. I was born entirely a descendant of Adam and bearing his likeness as a fallen man. That contamination ruined both my body (which was born dying) and my natural spirit which knows not God and loves evil. When the Lord saved me, He sent His Holy Spirit to actually dwell in me. The old “me” is still quite present. I still live in the same Adamic body I was born with and it still contaminates my spirit, so that my heart is desperately wicked. That is all summed up in the name “my flesh.” The Holy Spirit’s presence now means there are two “spirits” within me, the one still driven by evil desires, and the other always calling me to holiness, to desire the good things the Lord intends for us.

This leads to my third assertion. At this point, I’ll probably be labelled a complete heretic or totally nuts, but I think the Bible is clear on the point, whether it is easy to understand or not and whether it is what anyone else supports. The question comes down to this matter of “me.”  Read the verses again and it clearly seems there are two “I’s” present. “I” desire to do good, but “I” do instead what I hate. I want to suggest this bi-polar Jekyll/Hyde problem is explained in vv.17 and 20: “But now I am no longer doing this but the sin dwelling in me...I am no longer doing it but the sin dwelling in me.”

Here's the deal. Sin is like a wart on your nose. Is the wart part of you? Obviously yes. If anyone doubts it, slice it off with your pocket knife and it will definitely be you bleeding. But is it really a part of you? No. A wart is a virus. It is something which has invaded “you.” It is not a part of who you really are. It should not be there. Even if you are covered with warts, when you wake up in Heaven, will you still have them? Of course not. But will you still be you? Obviously yes. So, do you see there is a “you” where warts don’t belong?

What Paul is saying is it is the same way with this sin problem. “I am no longer doing it but the sin dwelling in me.” Sin is a virus. It is an infection. It is an invasion of something into you, something not you that has found its way into you. Once it’s there, then, yes, it is quite you. Like the wart, if I’ve contracted a stomach flu, it is definitely me that is sick. It is me that is vomiting. But it’s not really me. In the same way, sin does not belong in me. When I wake up in Heaven, will I still be a sinner? No. As the old hymn said, “This robe of flesh I’ll drop and rise, to gain the everlasting prize…” So I will no longer be a sinner, but I will still be me, right? Can we see it is true that the real me, the eternal me, the me that “agrees the law is good,” the me that “desires to do the good” and “hates to do the wrong”—that “me” is quite real.

Just like the wart or the stomach flu, sin has become a part of me. Now, I need to inject here that when I sin, it is, in fact, “me” doing it and the guilt is mine. Note, although Paul can say, “I am no longer doing it but the sin dwelling in me,” yet he also says, “I am practicing this, [the] evil which I am not desiring.” Once again, the “I” is doing it. My point here is that nothing I’m saying absolves us from the guilt of the sins we commit, nor does any of this absolve me from the guilt of being a sinner by very nature.

And yet, sin is still not me. Can I suggest this truth is actually very liberating? It affects how I see myself but it also affects how I see others. I believe this is precisely how Jesus could love even prostitutes and “sinners.” As He looked at them, He saw the real person. He knew that sin was a virus that had infected them. In a sense, the prostitute’s problem was no different than the leper’s. In both cases, something from the outside had found it’s way into them, so it was very much them, and yet, still it wasn’t them. The problem was something Jesus could take away from them. When He did, they were still them, yet the infection was gone. The question then becomes, “Can you and I do the same?”

Can you and I look at the worst of “sinners,” and see that the warts of sin do not belong there? Can we see that there is a person there who should not have warts? Can we see they are a person who can exist without the warts, a person who is not a sinner? That “I” without sin is just as present in them as it is in you and me.

If I can belabor the point, can I circle back to the “me?” If I will allow my eyes to see the “real” person in others, can I allow my eyes to see the real “me” as well?  It is true of me too. Sin is a virus. It does not belong in me. It is an infection, an invasion, a perversion of who I really am. What Jesus is doing day by day (what we call sanctification) is actually stripping away that which is not really me! He is redeeming the real me! His Spirit is enabling me to become who I really am and He will continue that work until He completes it. Then I will be me, but what here on earth we have called my flesh—the contaminated Adamic me—will be gone forever! Then I get to spend eternity really being me!

Paul’s point in Romans 7 is to shoot down the idea that somehow “law-keeping” is the solution. I’m running ahead now, but in the next few verses, he will continue to bemoan this bi-polar “me” problem and finally exclaim, “Who shall deliver me from this body of death?” The answer is not law. It is grace.

I’ll try to pull that all together, but for now I just want to leave all of this with the liberating thought of seeing that sin is not our ultimate reality. It was and is a contamination of who we really are. Even as I readily own the guilt of my sins and even my sinfulness, may I also enjoy the liberty of seeing it’s not really me!

 

Romans 7:7-13 “Led”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷Therefore, what will we say? Is the law sin? May it never be! But I would not have known the sin except through law, for indeed, I would not have known the lust except the law was saying, “You shall not covet.” ⁸But the sin, taking [the] opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every lust, for without law, sin [is] dead, ⁹but I [was] once living without law, the commandment coming, the sin revived and I died, ¹⁰and the commandment which [was] into life was found to me, this into death, ¹¹for the sin taking [the] opportunity through the commandment deceived me and killed [me] through it. ¹²So that the law [is] indeed holy and the commandment [is] holy and righteous and good. ¹³Therefore did the good become death to me? May it never be! But the sin [was] producing death to me through the good, in order that it might be shone [to be] sin, in order that the sin might become exceedingly sinful through the commandment.

What we have here is an extended explanation of what Paul says in Gal. 3:24, that the law is a “schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.” As he explains here in v.13, it is the law which exposes sin and, in fact, shows it to be “exceedingly sinful.” For anyone who has actually repented of their legalism, it is important to assert that in no way do we mean to imply that God’s law is a bad thing. It is not. As Paul says, it is “holy and good and righteous.” The problem is not in the law. The problem is in us. It is like turning on the kitchen light, only to see cockroaches scurry in all directions. The light isn’t bad because it revealed the cockroaches. Light is a good thing. It is the cockroaches that are disgusting.

Everyone knows cockroaches are disgusting. Our problem is that we don’t realize we’re disgusting! Or should I say more specifically, we don’t realize our sin is disgusting. Even being legalists at heart, we don’t think we’re “that bad.” Our evil hearts strongly desire the “lusts of the flesh” (pleasures, possessions, and applause) to the point we turn those things into idols and will stop at nothing to “get what we want.” In one way or another, we’ll find ways to break all of the first nine of the Ten Commandments, then conveniently not notice the tenth forbids our “coveting.”

What is the direction the human race always goes? The less the Bible is known in any culture, the more decadent the people become. While the Bible was being written, many of the cultures of the world were heavily into human sacrifices. In Western culture, it has been the Bible that raised us to standards of decency in how we live and how we treat each other. As it says in Prov. 29:18, “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.” Psalm 33:12 adds, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”

Law is, in fact, a good thing because it holds before people God’s standards which all are in our best interest. To the extent we ignore them, we, as individuals and as nations, end up self-destructing. Paul, of course, already elaborated on that back in ch.1. In all of this, we can easily see how in fact the law is “holy and righteous and good.” However, enter our evil hearts, and what that law reveals is that very evil. Paul may have been able to look at the Ten Commandments and say, “I’ve never killed anyone or stolen anything,” and thereby assured himself he was one of the “good” people. However, that one command, “You shall not covet,” suddenly called him to look deeply not into what he does, but why he does it. It is an easy thing for a man to say, “I’ve never cheated on my wife.” It is another thing to ask, “But have you ever noticed any other woman’s beauty and found yourself longing?”

Suddenly the law, rather than justifying me, can only condemn. Again, it’s not the law that is bad, it is the evil in me that is bad, and the law has accomplished its purpose to expose me for who I really am. The purpose of all that, then, is “to lead me to Christ.” The law’s condemnation should only highlight for us how badly we need grace, how badly we need to literally live in a world of grace, and to see that exact grace can be found nowhere else but at the foot of the Cross.

I believe all of this is why Paul needs to elaborate on these matters here in Romans 7. If, in fact, we are to choose to live under grace rather than law, the immediate accusation will always be that we are disdaining God’s law. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rather, we are allowing God to use His law in our lives as He would use it, not for the self-justifying perversions we all turn it into.

There is a lot here in verses 7-13 which can be discussed and debated. However, literally volumes have been written all down through the ages by everyone who has an opinion. I think this time I’ll refrain from adding to the cacophony. I’ll just say that, for myself, I am content to back up a step and observe what he’s elaborating on is that simple idea that the law is a “schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.” I’m glad these verses are in the Bible. I’m glad the Lord moved Paul to write down these thoughts and explanations. If these questions arise in our minds, they need to be answered. However, for myself and for today, I’m happy to simply know God’s intention for His law is always ultimately to lead us to Christ, to lead us to grace, to lead us to love and joy and peace.

I like being led!

Romans 7:1-6 “Freedom”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Or, brothers, are you being ignorant (for I am speaking to ones knowing law) that the law is ruling over the man upon how long a time he is living? ²For [instance], the married woman is bound to the living husband by law, but if the husband should die, she is released from the law of the husband. ³Then, therefore, [while] the husband [is] living, she will be called an adulteress if she should belong to another husband, but, if the husband should die, she is free from the law [so that] she is not an adulteress belonging to another husband. ⁴Thus, my brothers, you also were put to death to law through the body of Christ in order that you might belong to another, to the One raised out of dead ones, that we might be fruitful to God. ⁵For when we were being in the flesh, the passions of the sins which [were] through the law, were being energized in our members into bearing fruit to the death. ⁶But now we are released from the law, having died to that which we were being bound, so that we are serving in newness of spirit and not [in] oldness of letter.

In chapter 7, Paul delves deeply into the hopelessness of legalism. As I have often observed, we humans are incorrigible legalists. “Religions” around the world are invariably all about each one’s unique assortment of rules. We see the extreme cases like the Amish or like Hasidic Jews, but I fear the Evangelical church itself ends up being characterized not by their love for Jesus but rather for their own unique (and in their minds important) set of rules and standards and principles and such.

Reducing “religion” to rules is a very comfortable environment for us all. If we just “keep the rules,” then we’re good. All our rule-keeping friends applaud our exemplary job of rule-keeping, we all pat each other on the back, and life is good. We can meet together on Sunday morning, all approve of each other, and go away satisfied that we are quite successful in our “religion.”

In my opinion, a major point of the entire Old Testament is to showcase the total failure of legalism. The Jews began their relationship with God by telling Moses, “All that the Lord commands us, we will do!” “Just give us the rules and watch us keep them!” Of course, the words had barely left their lips before they were casting a golden calf and worshiping it. Their entire history was one of nearly total failure. By the time Jesus came, they had completely reduced Judaism to an extremely complex set of rules which they demanded everyone keep. They were so far from the heart of God, they even crucified their own Messiah.

On this side of the Cross, we can mock at the ridiculousness of the Pharisees’ rule-keeping and hypocrisy, but what I want to suggest is that, until we repent, we’re no better than them. Just because we think our rules are better than theirs doesn’t change the fact that we are legalists just like them. What is missing in all cases is the Lord Himself. Legalism is when “religion” is about rule-keeping and not about entering into a very real and very personal relationship with the God of Heaven. That is what I mean by “repenting.” At some point, each one of us must come to grips with this very question. Which will it be? Will I allow my “religion” to be, in reality, just my own seemingly admirable set of rules, or will I actually enter into a very real relationship with this Jesus?

I want to say that, for me, chapter 7 in Romans seems almost like we’re beating a dead horse. It seems like Paul has been assaulting legalism practically since the book opened. I wish we could say, “Okay, we’ve got it. Let’s move on.” However, Paul knows human hearts better than me and just how incorrigible our legalism really is. And so he devotes one more entire chapter trying to convince us of its complete hopelessness.

He already stated clearly we are not under law, but under grace. If at this point, we are still saying, “But, but, but…,” then we do, in fact, need to read Romans 7. From Romans 8 on, we will look at the glorious freedom of genuinely born-again people. However, if we have not repented of our legalism, we’ll never really understand what the rest of this book is about.

Note, Paul’s opening point in this chapter is that we have died to the law. Died. Someone once asked an old hillbilly, “How dead is dead?” He replied, “Plumb dead.” Dead is dead. Yes, we were born under law and its rule (and condemnation) over us was just as inescapable as marriage. To be married is to be married, but when the spouse dies, that marriage is no longer binding on us. Paul uses this illustration, I think, just because it is so obvious and undeniable and the analogy to law itself equally undeniable.

In v.4, he then draws his conclusion that you and I died in Christ and so we are no longer bound under law. Just in case we are tempted, like Lot’s wife, to “look back,” Paul reminds us in v.5 that living under law was a slavery that itself brought us only living death. Then all around that in vv.4 and 6, he inserts what it is we’ve been freed to. In the middle of all this discussion of dying to the law, Paul inserts an explanation of what that freedom actually means.

“Freedom” in the Bible is never freedom to “do as we please.” As we were reminded in chapter 6, there are only two alternatives. We either embrace the Lord and His place over us and with us, or we must by default serve sin and therefore self-destruct. In v.4, he says we died to the law in order that we might belong to another–the One raised from the dead—to the end we bear fruit to God. We were freed from the law and the chains of sin that we might climb in the lap of a wonderful heavenly Father.

Understanding that, we can begin to understand what he means when he concludes v.6 by saying we now serve “in the newness of the Spirit, not in the oldness of the letter.” Interestingly, it can be translated as either “in newness of the Spirit” or “in newness of spirit.” Personally, I don’t think it really makes any difference. Jesus said “they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” The whole idea comes down again to this simple question, “Are you just a rule-keeper, or have you entered into a real, personal relationship with God?” Rule-keeping is “the oldness of the letter.” What God has called us all to is something far better—a spiritual newness, a real heart relationship where we care what God thinks because we love Him. For us, His law becomes simply an expression of His heart, that which He desires for us, His wise and best way to live, and we actually want to live that way.

In the rest of this chapter, Paul has to go back and spend one last extended discussion of the hopelessness of our miserable legalism. Hopefully, by this point, we’ve all already clearly seen the difference and chosen instead to live in this “newness of the Spirit,” but for anyone still hesitant to give up their attachment to rule-keeping, the rest of this chapter just heads downhill.

Lord help us all. What He has provided for us really is a wonderful freedom to enjoy love and peace. It’s ours to decide whether we will.

 

Romans 6:13,14 “Righteousness Pondered”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹³No longer be presenting your members [as] tools of unrighteousness to the sin, but present yourselves to God as ones living out of dead ones and your members [as] tools of righteousness to God, ¹⁴for sin will not rule over you (pl.), for you (pl.) are not under law but under grace.

Before I progress on into chapter 7, there is one more thing I’ve been pondering since studying chapter 6 some time ago, and that is this business of “righteousness.” In v.13, the Lord wants us to present our members to Him as “tools of righteousness.” He wants us to be “righteous.”

On the one hand, we might glibly respond, “Well, of course.” However, I think there is a point of confusion here that perhaps rarely gets acknowledged or decisively answered. That is the problem where we started, that we are not righteous. This is the whole point of the Gospel, all the way back to 3:19,20: ^“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.” At that point in our Bible, any true believer acknowledges, “Yes, it is true. I am not righteous. I never have been and, no matter how hard I may try, I never will be.” To be right means to do right, to have done right, to continue to do right, and how do we know what “right” is? The Law tells us. It is the standard of “right.” 

But we’ve already concluded that the Law only condemns us, precisely because we cannot keep it, precisely because we are not righteous! “Through the law is the knowledge of sin.” Law only condemns. Again, at this point, any true believer cries out, “Jesus!” That is the whole point of the Gospel, the great “But now” of Romans 3:21,22. “But now a righteousness of God without law has been made known… This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” Hallelujah. We revel in the wonderful truth that Jesus paid the debt of my sin and now the Lord has forgiven my sin and declared me righteous.

That’s all well and good (actually wondrously great!), but then we pass on to the reality of our everyday lives. It is still true, even as a born-again, Spirit-indwelt person, that I am not righteous. I am still a sinner. I still fail constantly. If the standard is that God wants me to be righteous, then I’m in big trouble. I still can’t. If the judgment seat of Christ is still about me “measuring up,” I’m still in trouble.

So I came to Jesus because I’m not righteous and cannot be, but now He wants me to be righteous. Hmmmm. Seems I have a problem here.

What is the answer?

I believe the answer is to be found in understanding there is a HUGE difference between legal righteousness and what I will call grace righteousness.” Legal righteousness is simply that—here’s the rules and you should keep them. Here’s the rules and, if you keep them perfectly, you are righteous. If you fail in the tiniest point, you have failed completely and are hence unrighteous. “Whosoever shall kep the whole law and offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” If keeping the law is what we mean by “righteousness,” then I would suggest there still is no answer. If that is the standard in any way, then we’re all still back in 3:19,20, guilty and condemned. We’re still hopeless failures.

However, 6:14 tells us “You are not under law but under grace.” What does that mean? I want to suggest that it means there is a righteousness that is not legal, that there is such a thing as grace righteousness. What do I mean? The Law says to us, “Do this and live,” then mocks as we die because we cannot. Grace says, “Live and do this!” In other words, grace first gives us life, then enables us to do it. Grace starts with a love relationship between me and my Father. Grace starts with me being indwelt by the very Holy Spirit of God. Grace starts with me knowing that, whether I succeed or fail, I will still be eternally loved. Grace knows that Jesus already paid the penalty of all of my sin. Grace means that, when I hear what the Lord desires of me, because He loves me, I want to do it. Grace means I already know I can’t but that He can through me, and so I say, “Help me, Jesus. Somehow, by your grace, right at the moment when I need to say the right thing, do the right thing, help me.” Then when I actually did succeed at something, there’s no pride in it. There’s no patting myself on the back. There’s only the thankful, praising heart that says to the Lord, “You are wonderful. Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping me.”

That’s grace righteousness. Not me “succeeding,” but rather me the branch “abiding in the Vine,” knowing that, “without Him, I can do nothing,” but that in Him and by His power, I can actually be and become who He wants me to be, actually be fruitful for Him, actually rise above my selfish, petty, fearful, proud self.

Please understand what I am saying, you and I can live righteous lives. Righteous still means right. It still means to live right. That is still God’s desire for you and me. But it is only possible under grace. This is exactly what He means when He says, “Sin shall not be your master, for you are not under Law but under grace.” Grace enables me to actually do right, but also is there with loving arms to catch me when I fall. Grace allows me to try.

Can I suggest one of the best illustrations of grace is a loving parent teaching their little child to walk. Grace encourages the child to try. Grace holds their little hands and in fact holds them up at first until the child begins to be able to stand themselves. Grace keeps saying, “You can do it!” and cheers even the slightest success. Grace is there to care when they stumble and help them up again, and grace just keeps loving until the little child actually takes that first step on their own. Does the parent want the child to walk? Of course, but it is not the cold, harsh legal, “Do it or else!” It is the wise and good love that wants the very best for you and me and will stay with us until in fact it is accomplished. “He who has begun a good work in you will continue it, until the Day of Jesus Christ.”

Grace righteousness.

May God help us all today to draw near to His heart, to strive to walk minute by minute in constant fellowship with Him, knowing all while that, though we fail, He’ll still love us, but if we succeed, it will always be to His glory. And through it all, what are the gifts we’ll enjoy? “Love, joy, peace, patience…”

May we all live grace righteousness today!

 

Romans 6:16 “The Choice”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁶Do you not know that to whom you are offering yourselves [to be] servants into obedience, you are servants to whom you are obeying, whether of sin into death or of obedience into righteousness?

I have been studying in the book of Esther for the last several months since I was looking at this chapter in Romans. As I related back there, I left the chapter a little frustrated because it seemed so much like the things Paul was saying were so obvious, that the “objections” he was answering were so ludicrous, I struggled to draw out the benefit.

However, there was one of the verses in chapter 6 that particularly seemed absurdly obvious to me, verse 16, which I would paraphrase as “To whomever you offer yourselves as servants, that’s whose servant you’ll be!” At first pass, that made me want to say, “Duh.” That’s like saying, if you paint your house white, it will be white. Duh. If you offer yourselves to be someone’s servant, that’s whose servant you’ll be. Duh.

What I want to record is that, being away from the passage and having time to live it, it struck me that it is, in fact, a very helpful verse! As it turns out, it is, as I suspected, a statement reflecting a measure of rather enormous stupidity. However, that stupidity isn’t a problem with Paul’s writing or his logic. The problem is entirely us! What do I mean? What I mean is this: Throughout our days, we are constantly faced with the choice to do right or to do wrong, to think or speak rightly or wrongly, to look at right things or look at wrong things. What each of those choices comes down to is “Whom will you serve?”

The very simple truth of Romans 6:16 would tell us, “Whomever you choose to serve, that’s whose servant you’ll be.” That should be patently obvious to us, yet it obviously is NOT! We think we can dally with sin but then choose to set it down whenever we wish. We think we can rehearse ugly, negative thoughts “for just a minute,” then “get back to” right thinking. As a man, it seems like I could look at pornography “for just a minute,” then put it aside and “get back to” keeping my mind and my eyes in the right place.

That is where the real “duh” happens. How could we be so stupid? “Whomever you choose to serve, that’s whose servant you’ll be.” We need to realize that, when I volunteer myself to allow any sin, I am making myself a servant of that very sin. I will become its slave. As the old saying goes, “Sin will always take you further than you wanted to go, hold you longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you wanted to pay!”

Yes, the statement is logically (even ludicrously) obvious, but, since I am such a stupid sinner, it actually turns out to be VERY helpful. Indeed, you and I need to be very aware that our choices are not just momentary or temporary. They are choices to be a slave to sin (which will kill us) or a slave to God (which will bring love and joy and peace). For myself, the Lord has helped me all my adult life to stay away from pornography. However, one of the challenges to me today is that, everywhere I try to go on the internet, they are constantly flashing pictures of beautiful women, usually wearing less clothes than any woman ought to wear anywhere except at home with her own husband. The “lure” I would say is about 100x what it used to be.

What I found since last studying Romans 6 is that this simple verse helps me, in spite of the lure, to make good choices. “Whomever you choose to serve, that’s whose servant you’ll be.” The choice for any man to linger and look isn’t just a choice whether to enjoy it “for a minute.” To make that choice is to head down the path of slavery. A man does not know just how far that slavery will take him or what it will cost, but that is exactly the choice. I suspect our evil souls are probably all saying, “Oh, it’s not that bad!” Then I would ask, is this not the Serpent’s old line, “You shall not surely die…” And oh yes, they did, and oh yes, you and I will.

Anyway, that helps me a lot to constantly remind myself, it’s really that simple, “Whomever you choose to serve, that’s whose servant you’ll be.” I would think that truth could even help a person who say had a serious addiction. I’m sure it is extremely painful to break addictions, but what if that person minute by minute by minute practiced this simple dictum, “Whomever you choose to serve, that’s whose servant you’ll be.” I wonder if it wouldn’t help to realize every single little choice to give in to that addiction, is a choice to go on being its slave? And then, that same help would be available no matter what sin we might “struggle” with.

So the Lord actually showed me that after I’d put away my study of Romans 6. I wanted to record it for two reasons: 1) Just because I find it so helpful, and 2) Just to give God the glory that, in fact, what He says in the Bible is always helpful, even if us worms “don’t get it!” It really is that simple. Duh. We need to realize, that is the choice: “Whomever you choose to serve, that’s whose servant you’ll be.”