God’s Law - Working in Our Hearts
Friday’s Verse:
From Romans 7:15 ESV
“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
Yesterday afternoon I was driving to New Milford when I got behind someone driving under the speed limit. I started at a frustration level of “Oh, please pull over” and quickly graduated to screaming in my mind, “Stop the car! Take the bus!” It was not a pleasant drive.
Each of us has stumbled into this frustrating sin a number of times. Consider when you last tried to make a doctor’s appointment. You call the office, and they tell you that the next appointment available is in November. You can’t believe it. It’s July, and the next time you can see your doctor is Thanksgiving. Frustration quickly turns to anger.
Paul puts words to our frustrated thoughts in Romans 7:15. We know what we should do, but we don’t do it; we hate sin, but we keep on sinning. There lies our frustration. We want to will good, but we don’t. Sometimes this gives rise to anger toward ourselves, toward others, and, if we’re honest, toward God.
In Lutheran speak, what we have described here is called the Law. The Law convicts us of our sin by showing us what God has willed for us. Yet, it cannot give us the power to do it. It crushes us when we realize that we fall miserably short and leaves us crying out, “I do not do what I want.”
Do not beat yourself up when you get frustrated. Your frustration isn’t evidence that you’re a bad Christian; it’s evidence that the Law is working. It’s revealing the truth about you—to yourself and to God.
Paul doesn’t stop there. If Romans ended with chapter 7, we would all be frustrated Romans … and then we would die! Thankfully, Paul transitions from frustrated man (“Wretched man that I am!”) to a praising and grateful one (“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”) (Romans 7:24–25).
The Gospel responds to our frustration not with more self-help strategies but with the good news that in Christ you are no longer identified by the sins you hate but by the Savior who loves you and has claimed you as His very own. God loves you in Christ despite your frustration, not because you no longer feel frustrated.
✝️ A Prayer for Today:
Lord God, when I do not do what I want, but do the very thing I hate, drive me not from Your presence, but deeper into Christ. Let Your Law make me understand my need and Your Gospel secure my life. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
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