I watched a little boy about 8 years old walk over to his little sister about 6 years old and push her down and then walk away. What happened next was fascinating. His dad grabbed him and said, “Why did you do that?” And of course he said, “I don’t know.” To which his father responded, “Yes, you do. Now tell me.” And all the boy could do was shrug his shoulders.
I found myself being sympathetic with the little boy because I believed him. I really don’t think he knew why he had done it. Humans are amazingly complex beings and we react to a multitude of causes. He probably pushed her down because of a host of reasons, none of which he understood. He just did it. Perhaps the best reason was because he was human.
We are sinners – all of us. So why do we allow our selfishness to overrule our reason? Paul struggled with this. He wrote in Romans 7, “I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” Most of us have most likely at some time or other parroted Paul by exclaiming, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?”
I am so happy Paul did have an answer to that question. “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” I don’t know why I do some of the things I do. But Jesus covers me. Praise God for Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Awesome!
Written by Roger Bothwell on January 19, 2017
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