October 29 | Romans 7:14-25
DAILY READING
Romans 7:14-25
REFLECTION
Held Captive
by Mary Alice McGinnis
If you have been following this series on the Covenant, last Sunday we heard the story of Joshua. He challenged the children of Israel who had been delivered from bondage in Egypt.
“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)
But then in verse 19, just four verses later, Joshua said to the people,
“You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; He is a jealous God.”
Isn’t this our human condition? We set our hearts to serving the Lord our God, but too soon the troubles of this world, the distractions of life, the luring of our wandering hearts soon take over, and once again we find ourselves wrestling with God over our idols.
This is what Paul describes in today’s reading. This constant proneness of our sinful hearts to wander from our One and Only God.
Paul describes it in this heartfelt lament:
“For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.”