Simply Jesus

Our granddaughter, Ella, enjoys tongue-twisters and she’s pretty good at “she sells seashells by the seashore.”  I think she’s still working on “peter piper picked a peck of pickle peppers.” Now, here’s what’s really confusing: “For what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.” (Romans 7:15). The sheer frustration for the Believer is the genuine wanting to do righteously but not doing it!  Why so?  Paul continues, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” (V.18-20).  This! [in a nutshell] is the gist of the struggle between the New Nature [of the Redeemed] and the [lingering] sin-nature. So easily ensnared we are! In a moment, we are twisted by sin. In a blink, we learn just how sin-sick we are!  “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (V.24-25).  Forgiveness – Deliverance – Hope. Nothing tricky or difficult: simply Jesus!