Romans 7:7-25
Struggles With Sin
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 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.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Ephesians 2:1-10
It is By God's LOVE and His Grace that We are Saved -And that is a Gift from Him
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time,gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Matthew 9:9-13
Calling of Matthew, a Tax Collector and Sinner
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
St. Paul looked at himself and said He was a sinner...When I reflect on this and look at myself, I see a sinner, who cannot quite get it right...As St. Paul said I want always to do good, but I cannot...Something gets in the way...We are given the Bible, the Word of God, the Morals of God, and Jesus and His teachings to identify and see our sins...We know that Jesus wants us to help others, yet we often do not...I should be more charitable...I should make time to help others or volunteer...I find it very difficult to love every neighbor, let alone one who has harmed or done wrong with family or friend...I judge when I know that I am not supposed to...I have the opportunity to help others, but generally find something I want to do instead of helping others...Thank God, that His Son welcomes sinners and came to earth and told us this...
God has given us many great gifts...God's LOVE is the Greatest Gift...Two other Great Gifts are that He has given us His Son, who helps save us from our sins, and another is His Most Precious Gift of Grace...
Author and Priest Brennan Manning put this in these words, “When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes...I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty...I am trusting and suspicious...I am honest and I still play games...Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer...To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark...In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God's grace means...As Thomas Merton put it, "A saint is not someone who is good but who experiences the goodness of God."...The gospel of grace nullifies our adulation of televangelists, charismatic superstars, and local church heroes...It obliterates the two-class citizenship theory operative in many American churches...For grace proclaims the awesome truth that all is gift...All that is good is ours not by right but by the sheer bounty of a gracious God...While there is much we may have earned--our degree and our salary, our home and garden, a Miller Lite and a good night's sleep--all this is possible only because we have been given so much: life itself, eyes to see and hands to touch, a mind to shape ideas, and a heart to beat with love...We have been given God in our souls and Christ in our flesh...We have the power to believe where others deny, to hope where others despair, to love where others hurt...This and so much more is sheer gift; it is not reward for our faithfulness, our generous disposition, or our heroic life of prayer...Even our fidelity is a gift, "If we but turn to God," said St. Augustine, "that itself is a gift of God."...My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.”...