Smell You Later

“Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25)

Do you ever find yourself struggling with things that you thought you had left behind a long time ago? When I was in high school, I remember being on my way to pick up a girl for a date. As you might expect, I had to walk through her front yard. As you might not expect, it was a minefield of doggie-doo. And being nervous about the date, of course, I wasn’t watching where my big feet landed.
Her mom answered the door, smiled politely, and invited me in. As I sat on the couch next to my date, I noticed a certain unpleasant aroma. I had no clue about its source. I sniffed my date, which, in retrospect, wasn’t a good move for a new relationship. I leaned toward her parents — it wasn’t them either. The source of the smell was me. I was ground zero! I looked down at my shoes and realized that I had really stepped in it this time. Not only that, but I had tracked it through the entryway, across the carpet, and into the family room. Suddenly I wasn’t breathing well.
Some of us have mistakenly believed that once we became Christians, life would be free of complications, smooth sailing, a rosy journey with no splinters or thorns along the way. No trials or difficulties. No sins, no struggles. No doggie-doo. But even the apostle Paul discovered that following Jesus simply doesn’t work that way: “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me” (Romans 7:21). He described a sin nature that just kept on waging war, even making him a prisoner. Paul concluded with this self-evaluation: “What a wretched man I am!” (Vs. 24).
It’s hard to understand, because we know our sins are forgiven, but we still have the old desires, the old habits. And this is the challenge for many of us. The problem is that we have tried to follow Jesus without leaving something behind.

DENYING TODAY
What are the habits, desires, and sins that still cling to you? What stuff in your life should have been destroyed a long time ago but is still managing to come along for the ride? Maybe you’d be honest enough to write them down, with today’s date, and surrender them anew to the lordship of Jesus. Memorize Romans 7:25.