What A Failure I am - by Laura Duke

Romans 7:21-24

Here is the law I find working in me. When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. Deep inside me I find joy in God’s law. But I see another law working in me. It fights against the law of my mind. It makes me a prisoner of the law of sin. That law controls me. What a terrible failure I am! Who will save me from this sin that brings death to my body?
 

Depressing.

Something that struck me about this passage is the fact that it was written by Paul. The guy who wrote so many of the books and letters that make up our New Testament. Paul whose life was radically changed following a powerful encounter with Jesus. Paul who suffered so much in the name of Christ. One of the founders of the early church. What a terrible failure I am. 
 

I guess I find this sort of encouraging. Even when I feel like a failure, it's ok. God is still there. It happens to us all and God knows and understands. 
 

Paul's very next sentence is:

I give thanks to God who saves me. He saves me through Jesus Christ our Lord. (verse 25)

And we too, though we are terrible failures, are saved through Jesus Christ our Lord.
 

Thanks be to God who does not give up on people like me or Paul.