Wishing is present in me. I love how that sounds but what about an outcome? My Mother had underlined Rom 7:18-25 in red. I haven’t seen anything else with red in her old Bible. She passed in 2008 and I miss her. She led me to the Lord when I was five years old. Verse 18 reads, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not”. Whoever wrote this may have had a low opinion of himself or understood that this broken world has rubbed off on us more than we know. We credit ourselves with choosing Jesus. Jesus chose us. We avoid old sin more than before but still look like human beings in a broken place. We are made in the image of God but still look like us. Verse 23 reads, “but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members”. Sounds like we are divided by a civil war that is not too civil and then verse 25 gives perspective. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” and then another summary of the conflict follows. The hope is just around the corner in Rom 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. Only in Christ do our wishes come true. The perfect plan and perfect world God created is restored and we are restored whether it looks like that or not. Wish away!
