Daily Devotion, November 16, 2019

Devotion:

Read Romans 7:21-25a.

  I knew better. It’s not how I wanted to act, but there I was doing it again. I was at a football game for my favorite team. Over the years, I have tended to be rather passionate about my team and have sometimes had somewhat strong opinions about the calls that referees make that went against my team. Before this game, I had reminded myself that it was more important for me to set a good example by simply cheering for my team and not hollering at referees. And besides, as my brother-in-law once told me right before a game started as we sat in the upper deck “Remember, they can’t hear you down there!” However, with the score close and at a key moment, a call was made that went against my team, there I was, standing up and loudly sharing my opinion with the referees.

  Then I looked over beside me to see a small boy with the family sitting next to me. He had this frightened look on his face. No, I wasn’t using any bad words to share my opinion, but the anger in my voice had scared him. He was leaning over on his mother. I was deeply troubled, quickly sat down and thought “What am I doing?” After a while, I leaned over to his mother and apologized for my behavior. She was very gracious, but I was still ashamed of the example I had set for this boy.

  I resonate with the Apostle Paul writing “What a wretched man I am!” at times. Just a few verses before these, he wrote “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” But as he also wrote, “Thanks be to God…” for rescuing me and all of us “...through Jesus Christ our Lord!” I am thankful that God has overcome my sin to give me eternal life, but is also still working on me to teach me how to live and set a better example for others. How about you?

Personal Worship Option:

Give some thought to areas of misbehavior about which “you knew better” that God has guided you to overcome. What areas are you still needing to work on? Give thanks for this Holy Spirit that can grow you beyond any of those areas.