WEDNESDAY, June 30

Romans 7:13-25. I do not understand my own actions.

Paul is at his best when he is most personal--as he is here. In fact, we all bear witness best to our faith when we speak out of our own experience. So Paul, having used scripture and reason to illustrate the power of sin in human life, now looks into his own struggle and tells us, in one of the most moving passages in all his writing, the agony he experiences when he confronts himself.

Is this your experience also? "I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do...Wretched man that I am!"

There in a nutshell is the whole tragedy of the human story. Think of the United States in Vietnam, setting out to do good and save a nation from communism but causing untold suffering instead. Think of parents who want so desperately for their children to do good that they drive them to rebellion. Think of ourselves, wanting to follow Christ, yet losing our tempers, failing to pray, not following through. If we're honest, we must ask with Paul, "Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

If we have really looked into ourselves and agonized as Paul did over what we found, we can rejoice with Paul in the answer: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (1995)

PRAY for the Dioceses of East Ankole and West Ankole (Uganda)

Ps 119:145-176 * 128, 129, 130; Numbers 22:41-23:12; Matthew 21:33-46

View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.

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Thanks

Jun 30, 2010 at 8:12 am

Written by Stephen,

Just want to thank those who contribute. Although I have others outside of cyberspace to share with, this allows a unique community to be frank about our own faith or lack-there-of at times. I live in a community that is heavily influenced by evangelical conservative Christians and I sometime feel alone as our Episcopal parishes seem to bow to it forgetting often the uniqueness of American Anglicanism. Thanks be to God for all of you!

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Jun 30, 2010 at 8:54 am

Written by Marco,

Stephen, keep the faith! Whatever your situation is, you are not alone. There are others, some you may encounter. Thank God that you are who you are, doing God's work. I have been where you are. Often being who you are, where you are is difficult. The
stru*gle never ends, however, it does lessen. Thanks be to God.

...

Jun 30, 2010 at 8:55 am

Written by Lois,

I like this passage. Everyday I get up and plan on being so "good" and I always get caught up in gossip and stuff as my day goes along. Changing is hard to do. I pray about it all the time. Life is good though and God is Great. At least I am reading my day by day each day. I love it

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Jun 30, 2010 at 9:34 am

Written by Tim Holsonback,

This is a good one. We are all like Paul.

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Jun 30, 2010 at 9:51 am

Written by sherry wall,

Everyday, I ask Jesus to please speak to me in some way that will give me hope to keep on running the race when I feel like I'm losing it. Today's lesson lifted my spirits. Thanks be to God!

Paradoxical living

Jun 30, 2010 at 10:23 am

Written by Gaye Anne McWade,

I want to follow Christ in all I do and yet daily I'm gently chided by His Holy Spirit showing me that I'm not complete yet in my attempts to love with all my heart. What a grace to know that even that awareness is evidence of continuing presence in that upward call He's made, "Come, follow Me!"

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Jun 30, 2010 at 10:46 am

Written by Paulletta Aldridge,

Faith is a process...and I am so grateful for Paul for showing us by example that even the best of us still have to work at the perfection we all strive for; that the best intentions can sometimes turn out wrong: and that God is always, always there to forgive us and love us even though we are not worthy of his love and forgiveness. Sometimes I too "do not understand my actions" and wish that I had made better choices.

The Human Condition

Jun 30, 2010 at 12:17 pm

Written by Pamela,

Few words sum up so perfectly the problem of the human condition than Paul's. I am a dichotomized human being, capable of both good and evil, with each side seemingly at war with the other. So much in our culture presents unbelievable challenges to living out Christ's teachings, not to mention just our flawed humanness. We are imperfect; we are sinners, full stop. So each day I try to keep Christ's spirit around me like a protective cloak, impervious to those onslaughts.

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