I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh.
The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not.
For I do not do the good I want,
but I do the evil I do not want.
This is the nature of slavery to sin. Sin pretends to encourage a so-called freedom that would supposedly result from breaking moral fetters imposed upon us. But it is not the case that sin is merely a master who encourages us to choose what we want. It is rather a master that compels us, that drags us down, even when our we know there is a better way. We know this from our experiences of resisting temptation in order to the good we know we should choose. Even though our flesh tells us that it is the good that is servitude it is actually temptation that is so opposed to our freedom. Sin can't make its case merely on rational grounds but must instead enlist the disordered appetites at its disposal in order to keep us trapped, enslaved, and addicted.
So, then, I discover the principle
that when I want to do right, evil is at hand.
Was Paul writing about a time before he was Christian to compare it with his experience of life in Christ? Or was he writing about his ongoing struggles? It is a disputed point. But we know that we do still struggle with sin and temptation even after we begin our walk of faith with Jesus. Because this struggle is ongoing we make a continuous practice of prayer against temptation when we pray the Our Father as Jesus taught. Why reflect on the unpleasant facts of the reality of this ongoing struggle? We stand to benefit from recognizing the way that sin tries to usurp our freedom and, more importantly, that to struggle on our own strength against it is not enough.
Miserable one that I am!
Who will deliver me from this mortal body?
Who will deliver us from the ways in which we are not yet free from sin? By now we ought to realize that simply trying harder is exhausting and unsatisfactory. The more we have a sense of this the more we will rejoice together with Paul at the solution. We were not meant to carry our burdens alone.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Many of us make efforts to read the signs of the times, to plan for the future, to be sure that we're ready for it. This sometimes gives us some measure of control, some insight in how to respond. But more often it gives us the illusion of control. For this reason it isn't always a good way to fully "interpret the present time". It gives a limited perspective and can obscure things that we don't want to face and don't want to control.
You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky;
why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
The signs of the present time are meant to point us toward the mercy and forgiveness of Christ. We are meant to see the signs of the times revealing God's patience with us, and his desire that we become all that we are meant to be. Rather than this, we prefer to predict things with no moral impact, which make no demands upon us. We think we can continue to kick the can of perfection down the road indefinitely. But we will have to deal with any vestiges of sin within our lives eventually. It is better to let the Lord do it now, in his preferred way, at his preferred time. If we wait until purgatory to have them pried from our grasp we can't expect to enjoy that experience.
I say to you, you will not be released
until you have paid the last penny.
This is not bad news. It would have been nothing but condemnation if we were left to struggle on our own. But let us listen again to the joy and exaltation in Paul at discovering the answer.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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