The Full Creative Work

 

God's Creation is Both Physical and Spiritual

When someone is good at something they like to show off.

There is a podcast from David Spade and Dana Carvey I listen to on occasion. They host former cast members and writers from their SNL days. I imagine they’ll have to start including a fuller ensemble or risk running out of material. But that’s hardly a problem for now. Carvey in particular hasn’t lost his gift for impersonations. He’s objectively good at most of his regulars (Jonny Carson, Lauren Michaels) and falls into voices almost reflexively. He could do nothing but Regis Philbin and I’d laugh every time. He knows he’s good too because he’s relentless with the voices.

His silly vibe is infectious. I can’t imagine he’d rather be anywhere but right where he is recording a podcast.

Natural Talent

It's a natural talent in the same way that a kid discovers that he’s better than everyone else at a thing. Whether football or video game it’s something that distinguishes them from their peers at an early age. This talent is innate but not inexhaustible. No matter how freakish, the talented individual must discover discipline and expand beyond traditional comfort zones. No one gets better without expending their range. Carvey was and is a prodigy. He can’t help himself. When it comes to jokes and impressions, he loves to perform and it shows. We all get to enjoy it along with him.

Is there something Godly in that? What I mean is, when a person finds out what they were meant to do, is it appropriate to consider the talent a calling? I don’t mean a cheat or a grifter, though their talent may be exemplary. But an entertainer who works on delivery to skilled perfection, or a writer who explains a concept in different way? Of course I’m going to get in a plug for the writer. How about a teacher or public speaker?

 Hopefully this isn’t trying to make the profane sacred or trivialize the gifts of God. I guess I’m talking more about a skill, using the instincts, interests and motivations that God put in us.

But when we feel joy in work and satisfaction in completion, that’s from the Heavenly Father.

Innate Gifts

Eric Liddell said it best in the excellent 1981 film Chariots of Fire. “When I run, I feel His pleasure”. That’s not an empty sentiment from a jock trying to explain why he’d can’t be bothered with a life of service. If you remember the movie, Liddell decided before the Olympics to go to China as a missionary. But he wanted to compete first. In the scene where I got the quote he tells his sister, Jenny, that God made him fast for a reason. This highly religious man didn’t have any qualms about competition if the Savior was acknowledged. In the end it was Liddell’s devotion to God that made the biggest difference on the world’s stage.

He understood instinctively the connection between his physical prowess and God’s blessing.

I can’t blame those who think Christian devotion amounts to saying no to fun. Like a monk concerned with planting crops and studying religious texts, the faithful eschew joy as a barbaric pursuit for the secular soul. It’s a misunderstanding God’s full creative work in both spheres of life, physical and spiritual.

We all take the Christ with us wherever we go. From the classically trained pianist performing with a symphony orchestra to the professional basketball player, all who claim Christ must represent Him. It’s a daunting thought made worse when you add the pressure living the perfect life. But we aren’t called to be perfect. We are called to show Jesus to those around us in the way we live. That means to show Christ in whichever way He created you. Run with the talent He gave you. It doesn’t have to be world class. You can be the warmest customer service person at your jewelry store.

Have you shopped anywhere lately and needed help finding something? Customer service is terrible and getting worse. It’s easier than ever to distinguish yourself.

Conclusion

The point is this. We need to be Christians everywhere. We don’t need to exist in a world of sacred and profane and avert our precious eyes when sin is near. It’s all profane. There is no sacred in this world, but Christ did overcome it. We can use our physical talents for His glory in any sphere we find ourselves.

Most of us won’t demonstrate our faith on a grand scale like Eric Liddell. But we are always on display and the joy we get from our talents is a reflection of God’s creative power in our lives. By all means show off and enjoy your developing skills. Just remember to point to the Author of your satisfaction whenever possible.

“In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:6)

  

"On Business Education" Chesterton and Classical Learning

 

Classical Education Teaches the Individual How to Think

I’ve found G.K. Chesterton’s essays to be among the best writing prompts ever suggested. I had an English teacher that couldn’t reference him enough. A few years ago I decided to give the old writings a once through. 

Nature's God

He is clearly a devote of what we now call the Classic form of education. His concern in “On Business Education” is for primary school and not college. I imagine college was out of reach for most working folks in the 1930s in England. How many Women’s Studies majors were there in Edwardian England anyhow? Classic education is concerned with studying classic texts for a well rounded understanding of the world and human nature. Here is Chesterton:

“Everybody ought to learn first a general view of the history of man, of the nature of man, and (as I, for one, should add) of the nature of God. This may enable him to consider the rights and wrongs of slavery in a slave community, of cannibalism in a cannibal community, or of commerce in a commercial community.”

Or put differently, citizens need to understand the culture and community they live in. How else can we hope to correct and criticize and improve our world without specific knowledge of how it used to be? This is true of both local and national issues. Education should train the next generation of citizens to carry on with the experiment started by those who lived long before us.

Practical Frames

This isn’t something unique to the West. Most cultures pass down notions of the ideal society. Even when their core understanding of human nature or created life is flawed.

 Someone decided certain stories, values and traits were important to pass on. How did they decide and were they correct? Do our current values still reflect that? Why or why not?

Those dilemmas animate us today. But it’s quaint to read the objections to Classical education from his day. He references the common objection from parents about why their kids should learn about “ancient Athens and remote China” if they plan to be a plumber. The same answer in his day works for ours, to give them a frame of reference for decision making. Without a larger context for human nature, the plumber is limited outside of his trade. As is the teacher, the mechanic and the chemist.

We are more than just buckets to be filled with information on how to do a task. As citizens we have autonomy and live with our choices. We contribute to the larger community with children, commerce, private organizations, churches and associations. Without it we aren’t citizens at all. We do a task, uncritically, and go off and watch TV.

Uncritical Frames

Citizens need to know how to think critically. The classical model is the best way to do it, but I’m sympathetic to the idea of just teaching kids to learn how to make money. In a free society we should have that option. In so many ways it’s an old fashioned debate. One I’d love to have, but one that sadly doesn’t reflect the condition of the current school system. They’re a perfect illustration of what happens you adopt secular humanism. In the early stages you get the sixties and its obsession with overturning conventional morality like sex in marriage. In the late stages you get the Post Modern obsession with race and gender. Designed to foment enmity between groups, it’s concerned with gaining and keeping power.

It's infected institutions from education to business and even churches. The result is a society that can’t think properly about the relationship between citizen and state. Not to mention between parent and child, husband and wife. 

But this is old news. 

Many of us understand the problem but are overwhelmed by the scale of it. Even here, Chesterton points to something crucial. He does it almost lazily or as an afterthought--the nature of God.

Old Testament Frames

If the citizen needs to think critically and evaluate his/her current malaise. They should look no further than the Old Testament, of which are countless cases of wickedness that threaten to destroy the land. In Exodus, Moses brings the 10 commandments to the people from Yahweh Himself. The children of Israel nearly wiped out by a vengeful God, remembers His promise to Abraham and offers the law instead (Exodus 32:10-14)

Nehemiah and Ezra, both called in different ways to rebuild a people (and so much more) and train up the next generation to honor God. Jerimiah warned the Jews of the coming destruction, and exile. Their behavior had become so hateful to one another and their regard for the temple (the place of God) contemptuous. Even here Jerimiah pointed to a Savior. Salvation for mankind, once and for all, was always the goal. We could see it back to Abraham’s willingness to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God (Genesis 22:6-12)

The value of a citizen is in knowing when a thing has gone too far. The ancient prophets knew.

Conclusion

Oak Park and River Forest High School in Illinois are set to institute race based grading in public schools. The text is full of jargon-y nonsense about racial equity. The presentation is notably light on specifics plans with on exception, "materials and assessments are to be designed around a student's culture, which often includes a student's racial background".  It’s completely nuts and threatens to destroy any semblance of learning. Whatever classrooms are now, they are so far from teaching kids to be citizens that a wholesale rethinking is in order.

 I imagine this kind of analysis is what Chesterton had in mind. Critical thinking from a common point of reference. I hope America can get back to Classic teaching/learning.

 

 

Strange Days: Gym Scare

I had another incident at the gym today. 

I say “another” because I’ve had two similar incidents in the past few months. My gym has some strange people in it. Not strange like, they prefer cold brew over hot coffee but strange like aggressive. One guy in particular is amped up every time I see him. He’s on drugs, that’s clear. His behavior is erratic and agitated, I’d say meth. He doesn’t even work out, he just walks around and hops over things. He gives random people high fives and pretends to be using a cane like a blind man. Every movement is quick and deliberate. I’ve seen him stomping around like he’s trying to put holes in the floor with his steps.

This sounds like just a bunch of silliness but it’s unsettling. He looks like a guy who might attack on you at random too. Tattoos cover his body. I’d put him at 6 feet 3 inches at least. Likely he has issues that extend beyond drugs. I had him pegged for a homeless man when I first saw him. I complained to the staff about his unsettling behavior. They mostly just wanted to know if there was anything he had done. Basically, Do you have a reason that we can call the cops and get him out of here? Technically he hadn’t done anything wrong aside from put me, and others, in a defensive posture.

Is he dangerous? I don’t know but he sure looks it. Anyway, what happened to a store saying “You’re acting like a nut. Get out of here!” Apparently, they’ve “warned” him. That’s what one of the trainers told me today. After my second complaint about the guys’ uncontrollable and weird behavior, the trainer made it clear their hands were tied. Well, their hands were tied unless he made threats or committed some violence. That’s how I heard it at least.

I’m not disparaging the staff. They’re asked to manage a fitness center where anyone with $12 a month can pop in for any reason. The price point allows a pretty diverse group, including meth heads.

 I politely ran a guy off a few months ago. He was also acting strange, but in a mellow low energy way. He had a frozen, dull expression on his face and keep walking in a tight circular pattern. I'm fairly sure he was mumbling to himself. He wasn’t dressed like a gym guy. He looked like he just rolled out of his cardboard box after sleeping one off. Clearly this guy wandered in. After watching him for 5 minutes or so I decided to go talk to him.

I approached him with a smile and something like “Hey, buddy you need some help?” My dialogue was the finger snap that broke whatever spell he was under. He gave me something about looking around or thinking of joining. As loopy as he acted, my questions didn’t confuse him. Alert enough to follow my question, he looked out of place and it was obvious the staff hadn’t noticed his presence. I went up to the counter and asked them if the guy had a pass. They were completely unaware of him. A few of us kept an eye on him until he left, which was just a few minutes later.

That was the first time I felt unsafe. Not just unsafe, but I felt that no one was watching out or even thinking about dangerous scenarios. This isn’t just a gym thing either. A lot of businesses don’t have a plan in place for handling, let’s call it 'suspect' behavior. One question I asked the trainer was about protocol. What is your plan? Not that they have to tell me, but companies need something other than a promise to call the cops. At least have a taser behind the counter and some zip ties.

I can see a big market for security personnel in the next 20 years, in all sorts of businesses that never needed it before. 

 The grocery store I go to has a police officer standing guard a regular intervals. It’s a Walmart so I don’t know if the city covers it or if the cops are earning extra money on the side. That’s a new development that only goes back a few years. I don’t think it’s just theft either. Stores have their own way of handling shoplifting. You don’t need cops for that. There have been a few shootings in the parking lot in recent years. I imagine we’ll see more security jobs opening up for businesses that need protection from dangerous ‘customers’.  

I ended my morning by grabbing my bag from the locker and coming back home. I hadn’t put in any work. That guy had unsettled me so much that I just left. On the way out of the locker room I nearly bumped into him. He was pretending to walk like a blind man and nearly stumbled into me. I stopped him and said “Hey man, are you Ok? You’re acting king of weird.” He quickly replied “You don’t get to tell me that. I don’t know you from Adam.”

After that he headed for the showers and I left. On the way out the trainer stopped me and said they’d had a second complaint. I guess that means he’s out? I’m not really sure. I’ll head in tomorrow and try again.  

 

Begging for Business: A new Venture

 

Drumming up Business the Old Fashioned Way

A week ago I started sending out inquiry emails to digital companies in the Tulsa area. I’m out of ideas to drum up business for my writing company. I’m taking the ‘throw it at the wall and hope it sticks’ approach. It’s the same thing insurance salesman do, work the phones and cold call everyone on a list. I woke up last Sunday morning with an infused sense of commitment. It’s better to say “recommitment” since this idea has been bubbling up for over a year now. I started a website, paid a host and started writing business-y posts to put up on the page.

For at least 3 months I’ve been idle. I don’t like to admit it but when I run out of ideas I tend to quit. What I need to do is redouble my efforts and start claiming success in faith. I was for a bit but I got sick of not having success. Saturday night the guys in my men’s group prayed for me. I guess I made some comment that sounded depressing. Whatever it was I prompted a response. The prayer was the trigger for me to get up and start the day with a YouTube channel from a writing advice coach.

Advice: Make a database of the organizations and people you contact. Send them a personalized note and ask if they need help with any writing. Do a search for local digital companies and go down the list.

Getting to Work

That’s basically what I’ve been doing for the past week. I’ve contacted 30 so far. A lot of the contacts are just messages from their website they use to solicit customers for themselves. I don’t like doing that but many of the sites don’t list email addresses. Probably because they don’t want some rando (like me) sending emails they’ll just delete. That’s what I do. Hit delete whenever someone tries to offer me a package on a website upgrade.

So I didn’t have a lot of hope for this to work. But how many people actually need to respond and throw some business my way? Not many. I hit a few people up on Linked in. I’m to the point where I don’t care about how I come off anymore. Not that I want to be a pest but being polite is getting me nowhere and respecting others’ space has left me broke. What I mean is, my reluctance to describe my skills or ask people for work is probably the reason I don’t have any. All those irritating Aflac salesman that pop into the store, asking to set up a meeting have turned me off to soliciting business.

Ditto the obnoxious blue shirts from AT&T that bang on my door during the summer. But here’s the thing. I did buy a package from them about 6 years ago. The price went up after that so I dumped it. But I made someone a commission that day. I’ve said no probably 25 times. But I said yes once. That’s why I should solicit. It’s a game of attrition, like dating and warfare. Persistence pays off and rewards you eventually. I’ll keep bombing digital companies with emails until I hit the jackpot.

Then I’ll do it again.

How long until a typical small business evens out and becomes profitable? There are too many variables. But I’ll likely need to get comfortable with this begging for work thing until I can ride on my existing customer base. Being a small business owner is a kick in the balls. But it’s also wonderfully freeing once you learn to live with sore balls. I’ve seen in with my brothers, 2 of whom are further down the road to sufficiency than me. They work hard when they need to and schedule in family time.

If they need to take a few extra days around a holiday, they put in extra work beforehand to make it possible. Hiring additional help seems to be the biggest impediment to running their growing company. But that’s a long way off for me. For now I’ll try to survive on drips and drops and trust the Lord for the rainfall.

Lamentations: Corruption Leads to Pain, Regret, Sorrow

 

The Local Church Connects the Community 

Most people think Jerimiah wrote Lamentations as a poetic retelling of the fall of Jerusalem. In it, he compares the once great city to a virgin being ravaged by her captors and the shame that comes with uncovered nakedness. It’s not all metaphor though. Some of the scenes he describes come from direct accounts of the destruction. We have to use our imagination with some of the history. What’s known is that Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians right around 575 BC.

Chaotic Beginning

The book of Lamentations reminds the reader that destruction comes swiftly but never accidentally. Sin and selfishness over time create hardening in hearts. Collectively, that rejection of God’s law and plan for His people open the door to attacks. Not all at once but after a time, the Heavenly Father gives us over to destruction if we continually ignore His demand for repentance.

“Jerusalem has sinned gravely, therefore she has become vile.” (Chapter 1:8)

It's common to treat Lamentations as a kind of metaphor for our individual lives. When we reject God our world turns to chaos. Divorce, addiction, poverty, disease and unforgiveness destroy us eventually. Disobedience leads to chaos; chaos leads to exile. But there is a practical, even direct, application to our world here in the US. We’ve ignored the corruption in our midst just like Jerusalem in Jerimiah’s time.

Corruption is the Root

 Who can say that the United States isn’t the jewel of the rest of the world, wealthy, free, democratic, powerful? It’s still a destination for foreigners hoping to start businesses and worship without harassment and death.

I’m critical of what America has become in the last 50 years, but it’s still a blessed country where we worship freely. Beyond that there are major problems of our own making through corruption. Corruption is the currency that feeds business, government and religion. It’s not just the politician taking bribes and giving favorable treatment to their cronies. Corruption means looking the other way and compromising principles. It prioritizes money or status at the expense of God’s plan for His people.

How many national Christian churches have dropped their objections to homosexual marriage or cleaned up their statements to include positive language on social justice issues? Translation, they aren't doing their jobs. Lamentations has some thoughts.

"Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; They have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captives, but have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions." (Chapter 2:14)

It's Our Fault

We love to talk about how Washington DC ‘ain’t lookin out for us’. But we hardly examine our own lives for rot. We avoid tearing up the linoleum where the floor is soft, lest we have to replace it. It’s comfortable to point fingers at the wickedness in entertainment and media, it’s a clear and present danger. But mostly it provides us a convenient foil for looking closely at our hearts lest we find damage in need of attention. 

The wickedness in the culture is an outgrowth of decades of avoidance. How so?

Two things happen when you ignore problems. First they get bigger and tougher to deal with, then they destroy you.

 One person’s drug addiction affects their family and their circle. Every relationship eventually feels the strain, from siblings and partners to his/her kids and their friends. But in a healthy society, the behavior is limited to the addict’s world. Churches used to fill the role of arbiter, counselor and friend to the broken soul. They largely still do, but the connection between the individual and the church is tentative and often nonexistent.

 For all their mistakes over the years, churches work best when connected to the local area. Their flock consists of generations (often) of family and friends with an interest in the welfare of each other. This is a perfect scenario, when relationships are healthy. It’s never perfect. We hurt each. But the community aspect of church provides a bulwark against a lonely world. It’s a stabilizing force for the addict who would be otherwise lost.

Healthy Groups

Satan tries to pick us off by separating us from the group dynamic. It’s why Paul tells us to “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ”. Ever seen one of those nature shows where lions chase a herd of bison? They run long distances until the slowest member, usually the youngest, falls back and gets eaten by the pack. The first action that happens is the wolves stir up fear among the bison. Once the herd is fearful it starts running to avoid trouble. After the animals are moving it’s only a matter of time till one succumbs to the predator’s bite.

I’ve seen groups of bison in a circle fighting off an attack and even killing a wolf or two in the process. It works when they stand their ground. The group dynamic is designed to protect the weaker. But fear creates an irrational sense of panic.

We aren’t in a society that turns first to the community church. Weekly church attendance has dropped consistently over the last 20 years or so. It’s a reliable metric of the spiritual health of the nation. Depending on how you slice it the number of regular church goers’ hovers around 1 in 3. In the year 2020 it was closer to 1 in 2 for “Practicing Christians”.

This has repercussions for community. Will we lose another 25% in 2040? Eventually the idea of an active church that works together for its members begins to look like an aberration. Practicing Christians might look more like a Star Trek fan club with their infrequent conferences and esoteric musings on scripture.

Conclusion

The national church gets some blame here, but so do the rest of us. We’ve all collectively decided the mission of God is less important than…fill in the blank. That’s corruption as well. Lamentations is a warning of not cleaning up sin in the good times. No one thinks they will be an exile until it’s too late. Wealth and freedom lull us into a sense of security that’s as false as the invincibility of an ocean border. The author sums up that feeling like this.

"The joy of our heart has ceased; Our dance has turned into mourning. The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!" (Chapter 5: 15-16)

The United States is close to breaking down as a workable idea. This might seem alarmist, we’ve had tough economic times and even political upheaval before. The Civil War nearly broke up the Union and the Great Depression destroyed livelihoods everywhere. But spiritually we’re bankrupt. We’re not quite like the addict with nowhere to turn but in 10 years we might be.

Lamentations is a poetic warning to turn back to God. It’s also a practical example of corruption leading to sin, and the resulting destruction over time.

 

 

 

 

 

  

Democrat Goons Execute Political Hit on Mar-a-Lago

 

Thugs in the FBI Go After Trump

What does the raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home mean?

The FBI is nothing more than a goon squad for the deep state. This ‘just a few bad apples’ argument is tired. Sure I’m a conspiracy theorist. It’s tough not to be anymore. You have to ignore countless and blatant examples of two-tiered justice. There are clear violations of law from the whole Biden family starting with Hunter. The FBI had his laptop for years and did nothing. Hilary Clinton wiped her server which contained countless classified information. James Comey gave her a pass. Actually it was worse than that. He carefully explained that they weren’t going to pursue charges because she didn’t mean too.

Try using that excuse the next time you trade money for secrets with foreign governments. In Clinton’s case it wasn’t just the information she wiped from her server, proving that she knew exactly what she was doing, it was the server itself. What kind of government official cuts out the government? A hopelessly crooked one.

Incompetence

 On the Russia collusion hoax? The special prosecutor John Durham can’t even convict a low level functionary (Michael Sussman) of lying to the FBI. It might be a candy ass charge but it should be a slam dunk. This is in the endless effort to make something stick in the collusion hoax that dragged Trump through the mud in his first term. And yes, he will have a second. Durham has seemingly wasted millions of dollars invested every possible trail coming off the obvious spectacle of that cruel hoax. And yet, no one has been held accountable.

Is it too much to ask, to know the legal system still works. Maybe I’m naïve. Is there a reason the corruption in the federal government is so nakedly obvious? It’s like the decision makers (not Biden) are telling us they can do whatever they want.

"We stole a national election. What are you going to do about it?"

Exposure

Trump’s great triumph was in exposing the deep state to the public. He clicked on a flashlight and illuminated the shadow forces like an episode of Scooby Doo. The first big revelation (for me) was his they “tapped my wires” comment. If you didn’t wonder to yourself, how long it had been this way you weren’t paying attention.

He wasn’t from their world (Ivy League, elected office, intelligence community) and they feared him. No I don’t think he played politics like a 3D chess game. He’s a straightforward self-promoter who steps on his shoelaces far too often. That’s understandable, he’s a novice in this world. Without the noise and feistiness Americans wouldn’t have trusted him.

This is the new model for Republican officials in the short term. Look at Kari Lake in Arizona. She is throwing dynamite at the establishment. I have no doubt she’ll prosecute the last election (in Arizona) if she wins the governorship in the general. Noisy beats quiet because no one trusts the reasonable types to stand up to the rampant corruption anymore. We’re close to a violent rebellion if Americans think they can’t trust the federal government, elections, the courts or the police force.  

Animus

Did Trump know the FBI was going to raid his home? He had to have known it could happen. The deep state has been trying to make him ineligible for office since before the Billy Bush ‘grab em by the pussy’ video. But their tactics always backfire. They always push too hard, try to take too much ground. Trump’s position has always been, they lie, they’re corrupt, they’re out to get me. How much does a political raid on his home prove that out? This has never happened to a president, current or former. The deep state keeps turning him into a prophet. They’ve done nothing to make patriots think Trump is somehow a thief or a fraud.

Ostensibly the raid was because he stole classified documents after he left the White House. Kash Patel, a Trump official, said they weren’t classified because Trump had already declassified them. The president can declassify anything he wants. But the story of a president taking secret information to his house without asking anyone is a splashier headline. It’s also in line with the way the Democrats like to portray Trump, as a lawless rabble rouser.

He is going to run again and he’s going to win. Whether they try another sham ‘mail in’ vote is anyone’s guess. This time we’ll be watching.

Romans 7: A New Heart of Flesh

 

Heart Change is the Difference 

Romans teaches us how to connect the former rules based society with one of grace. Paul’s goal is to get Jews to think differently about covenant, sin and redemption. Gentiles, who never had the law, are now included in God’s plan for humanity. The biggest change from old covenant to new is the heart change that comes with an acceptance of Christ as the fulfillment of that law.

I’ve focused on chapter 7 here

Sin and Law

There are two dynamics at work in the human condition, sin and the law. The law came through Moses and provided us with a knowledge of sin. Another way to say this is that the “do’s” and “don’ts” of the law give sin a name. Names are official. They provide legality. But with the name comes a legal understanding that by breaking the law, we subject ourselves to the punishment of it. It’s a difficult standard, next to impossible. The effect of such a rigorous standard is to create a desire for evil in our flesh that builds on itself.

We know we shouldn’t lust or hate or cheat, the law forbids it after all. Our flesh pushes us towards desire. This is a constant war in the soul.

There was no way to have a heart change on the law. We always struggled to do the Godly thing because Christ had not defeated the power it held in us. The best way to understand this is to watch how a toddler responds when you take away the thing they most want. I had friends over a few weeks ago and gave one of their kids a bag of gummies. I meant for her to have the whole bag but her dad had other plans. He gave her a handful and put the bag on my refrigerator. She wasn’t satisfied with just a handful and began searching for a stool to stand on. She would not be deterred.  

A strong “No” from her parent kept her from climbing for the gummies. But she clearly didn’t want to. Nothing but the harsh, nearly impossible law, kept her from doing the thing she really wanted to do. Her heart hadn’t changed toward the candy. At no point did she say to herself “A whole bag really is too much. I’ll probably get sick anyway”. There is only an awareness of punishment through an authority figure. When we’re kids, it’s all we have.

But before Christ we were like children in our flesh. The law only gave us a framework, a detailed one at that, for right living. It didn’t give us a heart to do the moral things of God. Paul doesn’t get into grace in this chapter but he is setting the stage for it. Grace is the difference. It changes our hearts to now seek to do good things. Sin was dead after Christ’s death and resurrection, providing us with a way to God not previously available.

Resurrection and Redemption

Sin’s power is no longer the biggest challenge to living a moral life. It’s such a radical shift in thinking that it needs to be considered again and again. How much more for those like Paul and the early church, disseminating the scriptures for a new age? Even now I think we struggle to grasp how big and how revolutionary the idea that we can want to do the right and good thing. Sin’s power is dead. We’re are still toddlers in a lot of ways. We don’t always understand the things of the Spirit and we seldom know the reasons.

But we have a new heart, one that listens and obeys the voice of Father because we want to. Our flesh will always want the gummies on the refrigerator, but our hearts are tuned to the Father’s voice. We can overcome the flesh now by subjecting our desires to His will.  

Paul describes the conflict like this

“I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who will to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (verses 21-24)

The Christian is truly a new creature in Christ. Romans helps us understand how.