Reading your Bible for today June 24

June 24: Romans 7:21-25

KJV Key Verse: Romans 7:25
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Devotion:
Have you ever sat back and thought about the way that you do things? I mean, really sat back and thought long and hard; not just about what you did today, or yesterday, but the way you act in general! As I read these verses and try construct a lesson for the younger children at church, I began to start thinking deeper than I had before. I began to think about how I was being seen by other people and not just those around me, but those on the road and others in different places which I visit. I started to think about the example I was setting for others to follow.

Too many times in our lives we live double standards. We try to tell everyone how they should be living their lives – maybe not directly, but the way we get people to do things our way rather than their ways. We start to try and control others people’s lives because it is the way we would want them to be. It is so surprising to find out just how much each one of us do this without thinking as well.

God's law is perfect. He has given us the instruction book and we need to read it to change our lives so we can live according to how we were made, not according to how we want to be. You see, we are actually trying to change our lives away from that for which they were intended to something that is palatable for us!

These verses, like the previous verses in this chapter, talk about our will to do what is right, but our weak bodies giving in to the desires of our bodies rather than what is righteous. Just like we say one thing and do another thing, we try tell our bodies to do one things and end up doing something else. We are totally re-writing our own lives according to the book of “myself”. What we should be doing is conforming to the instruction manual – God's Word. For each time we are doing something according to the manual of “myself”, we are showing other people we have changed the law and are now living by another law. We are telling them that it is OK to live outside of God's Laws...

Points to Ponder:
What things do you do that you hate to see others do?

How do you think God feels every time He sees you do that?