by Joshua Bland
From time to time, I feel inspired to write poetry. It is an exercise which challenges the linguist, the disciple, the teacher, the artist, and the human in me. I find that it helps me to reflect on what God is doing in the world, as well as on how I see Him working in my heart and mind.
Poetry has a beauty to it. However, this beauty does not always mean happiness; it often takes a much more realistic view on the struggles and consequences of humanity.
Peccatum curro ad
Rapuit meam vim
Me ferus haurisit
Cultero pungente
Dentibus seratis
Sed in mea desperatione
Dominus servat me
Vitam meam mutat
Animadvertite:
Peccato curro ab
Repo ad Te |
I run toward sin
It seized my soul
The savage devoured me
by the piercing knife
by sharp teeth
But in my desperation
the Lord saves me
He changes my life
Observe:
I run from sin
I crawl to You |
Here's the honest truth: I, like everyone else, struggle with temptation and sin; this is a fact which we recognize to varying degrees. For the disciple of Jesus Christ, this becomes a more accentuated part of life. Listen to how the apostle Paul describes it in Romans 7:14-25:
"For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin."
Jesus Christ died as the atonement for our sins. In other words, He paid our debt: yours and mine. For the disciple of Christ, there is redemption. He did not, however, remove us entirely from sin. Notice Paul's final words in the preceding section: he strove to serve the law of God with his mind, but his flesh was constantly wrestling with the law of sin. This is true for us all. We still find ourselves running to sin.
How then do we wrestle this natural inclination within us? How do we find victory over the sin which ensnares us? John Owen, reflecting on the biblical ideas of the law of God, writes the following:
"Afterward God renews this law, and writes it in tables of stone [the Ten Commandments, representative of the Old Covenant]. But what is the efficacy of this law? Will it now, as it is external and proposed unto men, enable them to perform the things that it exacts and requires? Not at all. God knew it would not, unless it were turned to an internal law again; that is, until, of a moral outward rule, it be turned into an inward real principle."
In other words, we can not seek simply to follow rules. We, especially as Americans, are socially conditioned to be independent. We will follow rules when we must, but there is a tendency in us to want to cross that line, pushing the limits placed upon us. If we use Scripture or personal philosophy to try and establish boundaries for our actions, counting on these boundaries to keep us from sin, we will fail.
Instead, we need to be changed inwardly. External motivators, while effective for a time, will not have the lasting impact of internal convictions. Thus we hear another challenge from the apostle Paul: "I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:1-2, emphasis mine).
What we need, my friends, is not a new set of rules, but a complete change of heart.
Bibliography
New American Standard Bible. La Habra, CA: Lockman Foundation, 1977. Kindle.
Owen, John. Indwelling Sin in Believers. Louisville, KY: GLH, n.d. Vintage Puritan Ser. Kindle.
