Today’s reading is Romans 7: 14-25

Today’s story is all our story.  It is the story of faith and of struggle and of everything.  Today’s text is the story of everyone that has tried to love and serve Jesus.  Paul knows that he wants to follow Jesus.  He wants to follow Jesus with all that he. But he keeps falling. And he names it.  The very things he should do, the right, the good, the faithful, he doesn’t do those things. And the things that he shouldn’t do, the sin, the frailty, the mistakes, the pride, all of it, he finds himself doing it over and over again.  He is brokenhearted by his sin.

Who will save me from this body of death?  He realizes his sin.  He realizes his fault.  He realizes his shame, his brokenness, everything.  He feels like a failure.  He wants to follow Jesus.  He really does.  He wants it with all that he is. And he keeps failing.

We’ve all been there.  We all know that story.  And we want to rush to grace, at least I do.  But we need to stay here for a moment and acknowledge sin and our struggle with it.  We all feel that way.  We do.  But we can’t fully experience grace and forgiveness until we feel it.

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