Aroused by the Law

Romans 7:5

For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.

Have you ever been conflicted in your mind/body as to how to live Holy? You know what to do but you cannot carry it out. Being human can be complicated especially when you are trying to live clean in a dirty world. Common sense would tell you that when you breathe in the cultural air of porn, lust, and sensuality from secular sources, nine times out of ten you will cause a reaction contrary to the word of God. But has it ever dawned on you that when you read the word of God that those passions can also be aroused? Many of us are afraid to look at passions and desires that have long since been repressed . Paul said we are aroused by the law because it brings attention to what is already in us. In verse 7 he says, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “you shall not covet.” Reading the bible is good but it’s not enough to kill your desire. We don’t kill our desire, passions by not talking about them. We have to deal with this confliction of the soul.

In verse 23 Paul says, “I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin…O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? It’s easy to avoid dealing with our issues when we refuse to read the bible especially as it pertains to our certain proclivities that we want to deny that we have. Reading the law (God’s word) is the starting place but it is in relationship with Jesus that we are delivered from the fruit of shame. Apart from Jesus, we are just a bunch of righteous wannabees wrapped in a then garment of worn out clichés. It is only when we wrestle with who we really are in God’s word and allow Jesus to be our righteousness. The word of God reveals to us that we have some issues. Revelation 3:17 you say, I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Underneath our garments, we are all in need of God’s healing and need to deal with our issues. Who then can help us if the law only stirs up what we are trying to avoid?

Romans 8:1 there is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. Being chaste is not the absence of desire, but it is the constraint of the desire by the Help of the Holy Spirit as a result of our relationship with Jesus.

The Holy Sprit is the equalizer between our fleshly desires and our righteous intentions. The law pulls the cover back on our sinful desires however repressed they might be and the Holy Sprit helps us to manage our mess and to walk in a way that is pleasing to God. It reminds me of the old hymn we used to sing in my little country church:

Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and thou bidds’t me come to thee, O Lamb of God I come! I come!

Just as I am tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt. Fightings and fears within, without. O Lamb of God I come! I come!

We have got to make up our minds that we are going to stop hiding behind our inept coverings of religiosity and come out to face God just as we are. WE can’t be afraid to deal with our passions and desires but to present them to God so that the Holy Spirit can lead us in a way that is pleasing to God and a way that can make us whole, not fractured. The law by itself can only arouse who I am but it is Jesus who makes me whole.

Dear God, reconcile all of who I am by the power of your spirit. Channel all of my passions into positive expressions that give you Glory and Fulfill my life and bless those around me so that I can be clothed and in my right mind.

In Jesus name,

Amen.