The epistle reading from today’s Daily Office gives voice to a struggle with which most of us, I suspect, can identify:

“Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 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. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (Romans 7:21-24)

Have you found yourself stuck in that place before? Or…if you’re open to doing a little “soul-searching” today…do you find yourself stuck in that place right now? And even if you’re fortunate enough not to feel like you’re caught in the midst of that struggle personally, can you see how it enslaves us corporately? Certainly it can be argued – amid all the partisanship and division that seems to plague our common life – that people “want to do good.” And yet, “evil is right there with us” (and “in” us). And the result is that we too often remain imprisoned  by the impulses and powers that prevent us from living as children of God.

Thankfully, of course, Paul doesn’t leave us struggling but points us to the Savior who sets us free:“Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!“ (Romans 7:24-25)

As hard as it is for us to “feel it” sometimes, we have been rescued from sin and brokenness through the sacrifice that Jesus made for us! (Perhaps it would be a good idea to pause for just a moment andlet that “sink in.”)

So what would it mean for us today to “live like we’re rescued?”

May the LORD give to all of us today the grace that allows us to embrace our freedom in Christ. And then may we use that freedom to serve one humbly another in love (Galatians 5:13) and so display the glory of God.