Monday, July 12, 2010

Do Bee Do Wop Bop Bop-a-Lu-La!

.....is what comes to mind when I read Romans 7: 19-25--19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now 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.
 21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! 

My sons and I read that aloud one day, and got totally tickled at the "Do Wop" sound of the verse. We have now nicknamed that verse "The Do Wop Verse" 

But what, exactly does that mean? What's going on with Paul? He's struggling to do right, but he keeps giving in and messing up. He's getting so frustrated with giving into temptation, he cries out, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me?" of course, he knows the answer: "Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Paul knew something. He knew that our flesh would always war with our spirit, sometimes winning, sometimes not. 

How do we make ourselves behave, and not give into sin? By not focusing on it. Too often, we get so wrapped up with how many sins we've committed on a daily basis... how many times did we confess... did we forget any? Do we need to go get things right with our neighbor? Sin, Sin, Sin. It's a wonder we have any time left to devote to a relationship with our Father. 

I don't know about you, but I have found that nine times out of ten, I'm simply not strong enough to resist the sin, although I dearly want to resist. I could pray and ask Jesus to "help me" say no...but, according to scriptures... we have the help we need. Let's look at Titus 2 for a moment: For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.

It's not our self effort that teaches us to say no, but rather, God's grace. Nice words, but how does this work? The more time we spend with our focus on God, the less time we spend focusing on our sins. Next thing you know... our fleshly desires aren't top of the list... but communing with God is. Have you ever wondered what makes sin-well.. sin? Did God just randomly pick some acts and divide them into two groups? "Sin" and "not sin"? No... the only thing that counts, is faith expressing itself in love. (Galatians 5:6), All things ARE permissible (as stated in I Corinthians 6 & 10)but they're NOT all profitable, or good for us. If whatever we're doing, will cause someone to stumble in their walk with God, then we shouldn't do it. Not because God's going to zap us, but simply because it's not the loving thing to do. Why would we want to become a stumbling block for others? That's simply not a response of love. 

So, it would be a good thing to stop beating ourselves up when we sin, start focusing on God, and as we grow in His Grace, that same grace will teach us to say NO! to ungodliness. 
Enjoy your walk in Him!

9 comments:

  1. LOL .You must be at least 60 . Do Bee Do Wop Bop Bop-a-Lu-La . lol. Just joking around .

    I have been a believer for at least 5 years . I think that it was eisier to leave alcohol alone before that . Learning about gods grace was wonderful but at the same time depressing .Its been a dificult transition going from being worldly to a christian . God taught me lots of things that I didn't realy like . I hope I make sense.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi there!
    Could I ask what God has been teaching you? I know for me, one of the things that was a bitter pill for me to swallow (at first) was that the idea that ALLL of those 'good works' that I had done didn't amount to a hill of beans as far as God being proud of me, so to speak. There is nothing I could do, neither good or bad, that would make God love me 'more' or love me 'less'. It was because of Christ, not my good works, that he loves me. While I was glad that He loved me, I felt like I had wasted years of my life trying to 'gut it out for God". It took around 4-5 years to finally be content that whatever good comes out of me--is God's doing, not mine.
    Can I ask... as far as the alcohol thing, if you're getting blasted from preachers wanting you to clean yourself up? Just curious.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I once heard someone say that ignorance is bliss and knowledge is hell .

    Before I was a grace walker ,I was always searching now I don't. God led me to the truth but,the truth for me was bitter sweet .Here are a few thuths that were hard to deal with .

    Its all him and none of us . I wanted to be the important one .

    You will have toulble in this life . This was very difficult and for the last five years I have gone through trials one right after another . To be honest I don't like trials

    God has realy opened my eyes to the brokenss of this world . A huge dose of reality for someone who was ignorant .

    The day in day out fight for faith has been a battle that burns me out .

    So anyway ,do I sound like Im having a pitty party ? lol . I think I will go crack open a beer .

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi there!
    Yes, the truth can be bittersweet--to our flesh. I remember feeling the same way when God started revealing His truth to me...I, too, wanted to be, and up until that time, thought I was... God's gal. To realize that all that do-goodying in church didn't amount to a hill of beans, if it was done in my will instead of his...well... that caused me to squirm.

    As far as trials, I've heard one man say that our trials remind us of our dependency on God. When I started trusting God more and more.. the trials, although there... didn't seem to be the mountain I thought they were. Sometimes, God doesn't change our circumstances, but rather, changes our minds/hearts on how we let the trials consume us.

    Now that you mentioned it, when I first started being taught God's Good News of the Gospel, I accepted it--but there was still a huge wall of 'letting go'. It took some gentle prying from God for me to finally just stop, and say, "okay, that's it. God, Your way always proves to be better than mine, and I am confident that Your love for me is so great, nothing can separate me from you. So, from here on out, I trust You to do what You know is the right thing to do--which is an act of Love to all of us. Move me out of the way Lord, and teach me to love others, as You have loved me".
    Hang in there!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow! Grace woman That is fascinating! I was beginning to think I was the only one . I have talked with other grace walkers and no one has ever admitted that it has been a bitter sweet experience to their flesh.(I realy admire you for that ) I know that it is for many .I think many have taken their own lives because of it . That of course is just my opinion . Its been realy realy good talking with you ! I think I will go crack open another beer .

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think that grace can lead people to total hoplessness In the world . What do you think ? Is this what god intended ? How do people get past their flesh ? How do they cross that bridge ? I don't no of any scripture that adresses these difficulties . I don't know the number of gracewalkers in the world ,but they seem to be rare . I bet that many gracewalkers feel all alone . I feel out of place at any church I've gone to . Just some thoughts .

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hmmmm "Grace leads to a total hopelessness in the world" Actually, according to Titus 2, Grace teaches us to say NO! to ungodliness, worldly passions, and to live upright, self controlled lives.

    Hopefully, The LAW leads us to a total hopelessness in OURSELVES. We simply cannot live up to the righteous expectations demanded of us in the Old Covenant. Never mind what 'the world' is doing. "We" can't even do it ourselves. So what happens when THE LAW leads us to the end ourselves? Grace steps into our lives in the person of Christ Jesus. Jesus did what we humans could not. He fulfilled the law. He was the only one who could. Therefore, His life was the only one worthy of the ultimate sacrifice for us. He's the only one WITH a life. We were all born spiritually dead, and the blood of bulls and goats simply covered, not took away, our sin payment. God intended for us to enter into a relationship with Him. A relationship built on love and trust, not fear and condemnation.

    As far as feeling along, yes, I hear that quite often. In a radio ministry I listen to, the hosts encourage people to call toll free into the show, ask questions just like you've asked, and you'll hear a real live person share scripture with you, as well as encourage you in your walk in the Lord. If you'd like, check out www.realanswers.net when you get a minute and see what you think. Also, on Sunday mornings, 10:15 CT, you can log onto metrobiblefellowship.tv and listen to encouraging messages of the Good News Gospel, while you chat with other fellow believers. You'll need to register with ustream.tv in order to chat, but if you don't care to chat, you can just watch and listen.

    As far as getting past our flesh--the way to do that would be to die. Until we shed ourselves of this fleshly tabernacle, we're going to have trials, no doubt about it. question: in spite of the trials and temptation, do you still trust God? if so, what might the response to that trust be? In other words, what does it look like to trust God? What does it sound like? Not just on the outside, but on the inside, where nobody but you and God sees.

    ReplyDelete
  8. What is fear and condemnation?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Being afraid to do wrong, fearing punishment from God. Common sermons usually involve God punishing for people for their sins, ignoring the fact that Jesus already took our punishment. God wants to relate to us in love. Such as, "That's not good for you, or your loved one, come, let me teach you a better way"

    ReplyDelete