Teacher's Working

So I have realized that as I gear up to teach God's Word to teenagers, God first takes me through the lesson to be learned. This week's lesson: Romans 7 and big fat ugly struggles with sin.

Well, here is a synopsis of the week: Monday, indulged in my two pet sins, overeating and entertainment. Man I binged, it was not pretty. Tuesday was negative, complaining, and gossiping. Tuesday was also in a whole lot of physical pain. Tuesday night wanted to read my Bible, but then I just stared at it on my nightstand. I crawled into bed, realizing this wretched pattern. I confessed it and asked for healing of my sore throat, my physical pain, my bad attitude, and my wicked heart. Wednesday, felt like a burden was lifted. Wednesday night, read about Jehova-Shalom, God my peace. I claimed His name and asked Him to prove it to me. He answered with the best night's sleep I have had in six months. Thursday, teach ninth graders about Romans 7.  I would say he took me through the lesson.

The synopsis of the lesson: We all have our thing we go to, that coping mechanism that allows us to escape and not have to think or feel reality. For me it is food, for others its music, basketball, TV, movies, exercise. Really anything can go in that blank. God calls this worship: when we give our time, money and energy to something and value it more than God. We are then under the authority to whatever we worship and therefore have to live with the ramifications of that authority. If food is what you worship you will become fat, unhealthy, fatally sick, spend money, time and energy on that at the cost of other things.

Paul uses two examples to prove this point: marriage and trees. Like in marriage you cannot be connected to two people at once and so you cannot be connected to both sin and Jesus. Then like a tree, whatever you plant will come out in the fruit. Sin in=sin out. Jesus in= Jesus out. Lastly, we struggle. Rules just make us want to bend and break them. And when we do, we become enslaved. So we live life in constant friction from what we know we should do and what we obsessively want to do.

The solution. Well that will come tomorrow with Romans 8.