Me and Paul

I've been encouraged by scripture lately. Have you ever read some of the things Paul said? He was so human, and God used him so greatly. I've been encouraged that perhaps I'm not so far off the path as I've been tempted to think in these difficult days.

There's the classic in Romans 7 "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For 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. 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. . . What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from the body of death? Thanks be to God -- through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Oh Paul, I so get you. From start to finish, this rant makes sense to me. And though I'm not sure what Paul's sin of choice was, I wouldn't be surprised if it was PG-13 movies. At least movies have been the hook in my soul for the last month. And not just nice entertainment once a week, but an insatiable desire for the lives and romances of fictitious characters.

Then I saw this, from 2 Corinthians 7:5-6, "For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, be we were harassed at every turn--conflicts on the outside, fears within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus." Seriously, Paul had "fears within?" I have literally said, out loud, in recent weeks, "I feel like I'm going crazy." The gyrations of my mind on an emotional roller coaster are truly dizzying. I can't tell you what an encouragement it was to open my Bible and find my current state of mind described by a man of God like Paul. It gives me hope.

Speaking of hope, there's another one from Paul that has been meaningful to me lately. From 2 Corinthians 12:8-9, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take (the thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me,) away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Did you notice that? It doesn't say, "My power will take away your weakness." God doesn't promise us that we won't have ongoing struggles in weakness, He promises that He will be with us and that He is enough.

I'll leave you with a great one today - one that has been a mantra for me for a couple years now - from Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."