Day 36: The Dirt in Your Life
Read: Romans 7:13-19
One of the most embarrassing feelings is getting home at the end of a long day, looking in the mirror, and finding something stuck in your teeth. Or, if you’re me, a dry salsa spot on your face. We may feel a tinge of betrayal from our friends or co-workers who saw us and said nothing. Imagine going on a date, or to a job interview without knowing there was something on your face. You know the people who sat right next to you must have seen it, and yet, they let you go on like that. If someone had actually said something about it, they would have saved you from future embarrassment. It’s still a little awkward when they point it out but at least you’re thankful they did, now you can do something about it.
God gave His people the Law in the Old Testament as His way of saying “Hey! Look! You’ve got dirt on your face!” It was a good, holy thing. Its intent was to make us realize we are sinners. Paul points out the fact that even without the Law, we would still be sinners, whether we realize it or not. But the Law points it out to us. It acts like a mirror, showing our sin. Without it, we would be walking around dirty and unaware of it.
God, in His infinite love, showed us our sin. Our initial response after realizing we are sinners is to want to change. But in reality, we can’t. As Paul says, “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” We can’t do anything ourselves, nothing good can come from us apart from God.
He provided us with a Savior. Jesus came to make us clean, to deliver us from the pressure of the Law we can’t fulfill. He did it for us and declares us righteous once we come to believe in Him. God is not just like a good friend that tells us there’s dirt on our face. He goes beyond that, He takes the extra step to actually free us from the “dirt,” freeing us from shame and death.
Are you walking around unaware of sin that’s in your life? Don’t worry, there is a solution for us! In Hebrews 4:14-16, we find an invitation to approach God boldly. We can come to Him and ask Him to reveal sin patterns in our lives. There’s no need to fix it ourselves, and it won’t work. However, we can approach our gracious God. He will forgive, and He will give us the strength to resist temptation. Submit to the control of the Holy Spirit and let God handle it.