What Is Getting Between You and Jesus?
Key thoughtMortification means killing what obscures Jesus. This Sunday’s sermon is about the battle between our flesh and our new life in Christ.
“Listen for the struggle Paul describes — the desire to do right, but the inability to carry it out.”
18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Paul honestly describes the Christian’s struggle. We want to do what is right, but we keep doing what is wrong. The desire is real, but the ability is lacking. Sin dwells within us, waging war against our desire to obey God.
This is not a reason to give up. It is a reason to despair of ourselves and look to Jesus. Paul’s cry — “Who will deliver me?” — is answered immediately: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Jesus does what we cannot. He delivers us from this body of death. Mortification is not self-improvement. It is trusting the One who has already conquered sin and death.
This Sunday, Pastor Mark will preach on Mortification. As we prepare, let us ask: What is getting between us and Jesus? What are we holding onto that obscures our view of Him? The good news is not that we must fix ourselves, but that Jesus has already fixed what we could not.
During your next time of prayer and Bible reading, pay attention to what distracts you from Jesus. Identify one distraction and take a practical step to address it.
- Which distraction most often takes your attention away from Jesus: yourself, your desires, your behavior, or your spiritual experiences?
- What is one thing you need to remove or change so that you can focus more fully on Jesus?
Thank God for revealing Jesus to you. Ask Him to reveal the distractions that keep you from focusing on Christ. Pray for a heart that desires Jesus more than comfort or recognition. Ask for help in addressing the sins that obscure your view of Him.
Amen