4 Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

5 For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death.

6 But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.

19 For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.

20 And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

— Romans 7:4-6; 14-15; 19-20; 24

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and love from Christ to you.

Paul’s call in Romans to live a new life isn’t just a personal invitation. It’s a call to a new way of seeing ourselves and others. When we see ourselves as God‘s beloved freed from sin, we begin to see others through the same lens of grace. We are empowered to forgive, to love and to serve, knowing that we’re not operating out of our own strength, but out of the strength God provides. As Paul’s letter unfolds, he becomes startlingly transparent about a reality that every believer can relate to the struggle.

In Romans 7, Paul dives into the inner battle between his desire to live righteously and his ongoing struggles. He gives us a raw and honest glimpse into the human heart. He confesses his struggles in Romans 7:15. He speaks not only as an apostle, but as a fellow struggler. He understands the ongoing tension between our intentions and our actions. Paul’s words remind us that faith doesn’t make us immune to temptation. Even as Christians, we often find ourselves wrestling with old habits, desires, and weaknesses.