2 Chronicles 6:12-8:10, Romans 7:14-8:8, Psalms 18:1-15, Proverbs 19:24-25
Today is the 22nd day of July welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy and an honor to be here with you around the roaring Global Campfire that is our community and what a joy that we have each other to take this journey with, deeper and deeper and deeper into God’s Word as we sail deeper and deeper across the vastness of a year together. And what a change it makes just have this little oasis in the thick of it all, this one place of serenity that we can for sure go and know we’re not alone and know that the reason we’re all here is Scriptures, the Scriptures being spoken into our lives and speaking into our souls. And, so, let’s take that next step forward. We’re reading from the NET Bible, the New English Translation this week. Today, second Chronicles chapter 6 verse 12 through 8 verse 10.
Commentary:
Okay. So, in the book of Romans today Paul’s being quite confessional about his own personal experience as a human being. And this is a person who was vigorously, assiduously studying and attempting to live into and obey the Mosaic law. And, so, he’s come to this conclusion, “the things that I don’t want to do are the things that I do. And the things that I actually want to do deep inside me, those are the things that I can’t seem to do and it’s a wretched experience because I’m…basically because I’m conflicted all the time.” And, I mean if we could show…do a show of hands around the world who has ever or who pretty much lives feeling that way we’d have a lot of hands in the air and I’d have both mine in the air. So, as dense as the material is that we’ve been going through, as thick it is with all kinds of very long sentences and a lot of things to think about theologically, Paul’s got our attention right now because he’s describing the way we feel too. And what he’s trying to reveal here is that the battle between light and dark, between good and evil, between right and wrong, this is a battle that is waged within us, within each person. And the law is a spiritual thing and a good thing because it reveals this awareness, this fact that the battle is within us and that it accomplishes what it’s supposed to do, to make us aware that in our own strength like it’s a losing battle, like we cannot get there on their own…on our own, but there’s still hope, because Jesus changed the…the…the plight of humanity. The story changed through Jesus. And according to Paul, “for those in Christ there is no condemnation for us who belong to Jesus. His Spirit frees us from the power of sin and death. The claim that sin and death add to us, something the law couldn’t do. The law could expose and make us aware of these facts but couldn’t free us from it. Jesus came to free us from it.” So, Paul tells us, “those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit.” So, we did an exercise, you know, just trying to live into what it would be like if sin weren’t category. Like just to try it for a day, what would that freedom be like? According to Paul, at a fundamental level, “it would be like living in the spirit and not living in the flesh.” So, let’s live into that today. Like, let’s put that into practice today. When the things that we don’t want to do but we’re going to do anyway arise and there is that moment of decision, that is the moment to call upon the Holy Spirit, right? So, when the rage arises or the envy becomes overwhelming or lust shows itself, there's…like there’s only one place to go that leads to life. We can certainly follow the flesh and it will lead us into the things that we don’t want to do and will lead us on a path that ultimately ends in death and destruction or we can throw up our hands and say, “I am unable, I surrender, I am unable. Holy Spirit come into this moment that I might see and live by the Spirit in this moment.” What kind of change might that make to the day? What kind of change might make to our lives if it became like our default position?
Prayer:
Father, we confess that the words of Paul about doing things we don’t want to do and the things we do want to do, not being able to do those things and feeling wretched about it, this is…this consumes way, way more of our lives that we’re even aware of. We live in this condemnation in some way all of the time. And we’re being told that that’s purpose of the law, is to expose these things so that we might deal with these things so that we might come to the end of ourselves in trying to achieve righteousness on our own that we are ever going to defeat these things. But we have been given Your Holy Spirit and we have been and continue to be transformed into new creatures. And one of the basic ways we can act on this, like make it actionable is to do just what we were talking about, that when we catch ourselves, like when we catch ourselves moving in that direction where we are about to choose what we do not want to do, we can cry out to You in that moment for rescue. And, so, that is what we’re going to put into practice today. Come Holy Spirit and show us how to live by the Spirit and to worship You in Spirit and in truth. And we pray this in Your mighty name. Amen.
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And that is it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.