Daily Devotional • April 1
A Reading from Romans 7:13-25
13 Did what is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin that was working death in me through what is good, in order that it might be shown to be sin, so that through the commandment sin might become sinful beyond measure.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. 15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17 But in fact it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that the good does not dwell within me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do the good lies close at hand, but not the ability. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that, when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23 but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched person that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with my mind I am enslaved to the law of God, but with my flesh I am enslaved to the law of sin.
Meditation
St. Paul finds himself shattered, divided, and split. The apostle struggles between his converted and unconverted self. He wants to do that which is good, but evil is right there with him. There is a war raging internally, between the old self and the new man that is being remade in the image of Christ. Wretched man that I am! I recognize there are several ways to interpret this passage, but for now, consider this internal war inside the Apostle. Regardless of what the academics say, does it not read as familiar to us? For all of us who are being saved experience this tension of the Christian life.
Those of us who have never known chemical dependency do not understand this truth as acutely as an addict in recovery. Those of us who successfully fight against addictions can feel this tension of the Apostle. The recovering addict is always an addict; there is always that gnawing internally to return. Many walk the path with success, but success with addiction is always tempered by the knowledge of the precipice that is close behind—so it is with the Christian. We fight against our vices and our virtues and seek to leave behind the former and reshape and reorient the latter. Yet, there is always a part of us that is yet unconverted, a chamber of the heart we have yet to allow Christ to enter, though he knocks at the door.
We still struggle—yes, even post-baptism—with our sinful nature. “I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” Yet, we have this sure and certain knowledge that even those doors we bar shut from Jesus will be broken down someday by his loving persistence. Our divided selves—shattered in two, a part that is remade, a part that is yet to remade—will someday be reknit and remade. Our very selves will be made a tunic without seam, in the person of Jesus Christ. We will find our oneness in the One who is three. Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Rev. Samuel Cripps is the rector of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist in Wausau, Wisconsin.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Longwood, Florida
The Diocese of Masasi – The Anglican Church of Tanzania
The Rev. Samuel Cripps is the rector of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist in Wausau, Wisconsin.
