Paul's Conundrum

 

Thursday, June 30, 2022

I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.  I love God’s law with all my heart.  But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind.  This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.  Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?  Thank God!  The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.  So you see how it is:  In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.  Romans 7:21-25

One of the dictionary definitions for the word conundrum is a riddle, or a question asked for amusement, typically one with a pun in its answer.  A second definition is:  a confusing and difficult problem or question.  Paul’s conundrum has none of the first definition; there’s little humor in struggling with sin, doing the one thing you hate most, and not doing what you really want to do, because it is the nature of darkness drawing you to it, with all the power of Hell behind it.  Paul’s conundrum is the second type, a confusing and difficult problem, and the question behind it…why can’t I do better than this?  In short, it’s a living Hell.

Paul’s conundrum is ours.  Somewhere between the cradle and adulthood, most everyone with a reasonable grip on reality begins to understand this most awkward of life’s realities:  you know you were created for better than what you do…and you also know you can’t help yourself.  It’s like that with the chocolate-covered Payday bar that has been sitting on my desk since my birthday three days ago, that I do not want to eat, yet I want to eat it more than take my next breath. 

If I had any sense (about my weight and health) I might be able to take one bite and put the balance in the fridge for next week’s bite.  It would last a month or six weeks, and I’d need that long to burn off the extra sugar thinking about doing some exercise…which is another thing tied to Paul’s conundrum.  (But I digress)

Paul’s condition (that which led him to label himself the worst of all sinners[1]) is, an unanswerable riddle, a plague in the life of everyone in Adam’s lineage.  Paul agonized over his desire to do good, and the eventual result of messing up…again, and again!  And, if you can say with a straight face that you’ve never encountered that in your personal experience, you haven’t lived long enough, sinned big enough, or honestly come face to face with reality of the human condition.  Hang around a little longer, think a little deeper, and keep your eyes open.  You will see the DNA of your personal goodness come untangled at some point.

The good news of Paul’s (and our) condition is, when you ask the same question, Who will deliver me from this hell…there is, and always has been (in the heart and lovingkindness of God’s plan) an answer for any who are willing to bend a knee.  The answer is Jesus Christ; he will BE the power that overcomes sin for you, because He knows you cannot do it by yourself.

For You Today

If you haven’t bumped into this question/conundrum, you either haven’t been honest, or you’ve not been listening.  It’s there, and it is related to whatever troubling behavior, and nagging guilt exists in the back of your mind.  And God has provided the only remedy for what ails you:

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.               1 John 1:9

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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For other posts on this topic:  Impossible and Free Will

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all.  1 Timothy 1:15

The Unseen

 

Friday, February 4, 2022

You blind Pharisee!  First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.  Matthew 23:26

The Pharisees were religious leaders in Israel.  It was important to them to look like leaders who lived what they said.  Jesus got to the crux of the matter when he challenged one of them to be as clean on the inside as the outside advertised.  That’s a lot easier-said-than-done, eh?

My dear bride, Elizabeth, was sometimes called The White Tornado by our three children.  Elizabeth knows how to “clean with a vengeance.”  It was often stated that Mom could spot a dust bunny under a rug or sofa at midnight, with the lights turned-off, from three rooms away.  Now, if there are, as my friend, Dr. Don McCutcheon used to say, two kinds of people in the world…cleanies and messies, there isn’t a shadow of a doubt on which side Elizabeth comes down!  However perceived by our then-teenaged children, Elizabeth’s motive was always more than just keeping spotless for the sake of pride; she knew the unseen enemies couldn’t be cleansed away by hitting a-lick-and-a-promise with a dust rag.  Deep cleaning meant a healthier house for those she loved!

In “Praying the Promises of God” English author Alan Redpath wrote about the difficulty of having the inner person as deeply-cleaned as you try to present the outer person to those around you:

Do certain behaviors and habits continue to plague you, no matter how often you try to stop them and resolve to do better?  This happens to all of us.  When we belong to Christ, we long for holiness in our outward behaviors because we have an inner barometer that is weighted toward righteousness.  Sin unbalances us and makes us feel “off.”  Each of the behaviors we so want to change is the fruit produced by unrighteousness on the inside.  If the inner root were gone, the fruit of it would be gone as well.  When we put all the emphasis on an outward behavior and don’t think about the root of that behavior, we find ourselves chasing our own tails and repeating the same behaviors over and over again.  Then we fall prey to the enemy’s attempts to discourage us.  Or, like the religious leaders to whom Jesus addressed these words, we compensate with outward forms and traditions and find satisfaction in the mere appearance of holiness.  Because Jesus comes to reside in us, he has the power and access to work on our sins at their root.  From within he cleanses and purifies us—making the inside of the cup and dish clean.  The more we surrender to him in obedience and look to him for guidance and strength, the more we will find old behaviors and thought patterns disappearing and being replaced with healthy expressions of the Christ who indwells us.[1]

For You Today

The adage, what you can’t see can’t hurt you is miles from reality.  Our house’s foundation is cracked, due to soil erosion underneath, where only the moles and worms live.  But the evidence is there, and needed to be addressed.  The crew dug deep….down to bedrock…and now the foundation stands firm. 

The same can be applied to the inside of your soul.  And the only “crew” that can get there is the one who walked out of an empty tomb on Easter morning.  When He hears your confession, deep cleaning for the unseen will take on a new meaning!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

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[1] Alan Redpath(1907–1989), English evangelist, pastor, and author in Praying the Promises of God (Tyndale House publishers, Carol Stream Ill)