Phony Bologna

No Good Thing

(THAT IS, IN MY FLESH)

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” – Romans 7:18

As I struggled with my humanity this week, I was confronted with some important truths. There is no way that my flesh will ever improve to the place where God can use it or be pleased by it. In the flesh I am selfish, irritable, weak, un-spiritual, spiritually lazy, hungry for flesh-satisfying stimulation, unreasonable, stubborn, and emotionally volatile -just to name a few of my “charming” characteristics (They certainly “charm” me into deception).

My "flesh," as Paul is using the term here, is an imposter. It is the "phony bologna " version of me. It is the parasite of sin that has attached itself to me and dwells in me.

My flesh is not getting better and shows no prospects of getting better. Read Romans 7-8 to get the picture. We all face Paul’s dilemma and we are all disappointed when we discover that we cannot become what God wants us to be by doing what we think God wants us to do. So, what’s the point? The point is that, through grace, as God makes us what He wants us to be, we will desire to do, also by grace, the things that God wants to do through us. And, as we trust Him and turn our dials toward the Spirit and begin to walk in the Spirit that will all happen.

We’ve all been disappointed by people who we thought were strong Christians, but let us down. Those disappointments have been shocking at times and have caused us to question ourselves. That is not a bad thing. What is dangerous is if we ever start feeling so proud of our “efforts” and “successes” that we forget we are vulnerable and weak and that we are capable, in the flesh of the same falls that we have witnessed in others. We are totally and absolutely dependent upon God for the Christian life and God is totally and absolutely dependable to accomplish His purposes in and through us. He will never let us down. Trust Him and commit your moments and days to His care.

That Saved a Wretch Like Me

“ O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” – Romans 7:24

“ Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: - Revelation 3:17

No one aspires to wretchedness. All resist the implication that they are wretched. No one wants to be known as a wretch.

However, to be a recipient of grace, the soul must know its great need and acknowledge that it is depraved and lost in a sea of sin.

The sound of grace, the voice of God, the Word of the Gospel, that Word which was made flesh has sounded forth from Heaven into the realm of time and space. It has declared with unambiguous truth, “Thou are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and bind, and naked.”

And without a breath or a rest in the song of grace, it has declared to us, the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve that we shall be called Benjamin, for we are “the beloved of the Lord.”

Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin, wretched in his righteousness, zealous in his misguided legalism, vengeful in his passion to please God. “Why persecutest thou me,” our Lord inquires. And grace came to Brother Saul and the wretched one became the instrument of proclaiming grace to the nations, even “the least of the Apostles” and the chief of sinners who would declare,

“But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”_ I Corinthians 15:10

How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

We must know our state apart from grace that we might fully appreciate what God has wrought in us and done for us. It evokes in the heart of an honest soul both gratitude and hope, flowing from the fount of humility.

We are not who we truly are apart from grace. We present ourselves to God and to ourselves, as well as to the world, as imposters. The imposter wants to rule, but God desires for us to be real, whole, fully actualized without any of the phony bologna of sin.

To be eligible for great grace, we must know how great our need is.