HOW TO PERFORM
“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.” (Romans 7:18)
In Romans 7 the apostle Paul confesses a frustration. He wrote that the things which he ought not to do, he found himself doing. Furthermore, the things which he ought to do, he found himself neglecting to do. So Paul experienced a frustration. He knew what was right and he didn’t do it. Also he knew what was wrong and he found himself doing it.
Dr. William Barclay suggests that Paul “knew himself to be a walking civil war.” It was in the context of that experience that Paul raised the question of “how to perform.” That is, how to do what was right and not do what was wrong. At that point, Paul confesses that he did not know. In so saying, he acknowledged the weakness of the law and the inability of the flesh. The law tells us what we ought to do, and what we ought not to do. But the law cannot enable us to do either. Furthermore Paul confesses “in my flesh dwells no good thing.” In other words, there is no enablement there.
It was in consequence of the above that prompted Paul to exclaim “who shall deliver me from this body of death?” But the Lord gave an answer to that dilemma as Paul wrote “I thank God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In Romans 8 Paul continues to explain that there is triumph through the indwelling power of the Spirit. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
No doubt multitudes have experienced the frustration of which Paul has written. We, too, struggle with what we ought not to do and with what we ought to do and yet leave undone. But thank God there is an answer for us in Jesus Christ and through the indwelling power of His Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:16-17, “walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” Paul continues by writing Galatians 5:25, “if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” This is the answer to Paul’s perplexity of “how to perform.”
Dr. Eric Crichton is the Pastor Emeritus of Calvary Church, Lancaster, PA, and Board Member Emeritus of America’s Keswick
Compass Pointers: Do every act as if it were your last. Marcus Antoninus
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 8:13; Level 2: Proverbs 8:32-36
Anchored to the Rock: As long as we just pour out our hearts in a multitude of petitions without taking time to see whether every petition is sent with the purpose and expectation of getting and answer, not many will reach the mark. Andrew Murray
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