Tied Up In Knots, Untangled by Jesus

The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news! Mark 1:15

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:14, 21–25

The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news! Mark 1:15

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:14, 21–25

2,000 years ago, Jesus came to town and announced that the long expected age to come had come; that the Kingdom of God and all that it promised was in the midst of ordinary people, invading their world and their time. It was not in the way that people expected. God’s Realm, his way, his control, his perfection would, for a period, coexist with the defeated realm of darkness. And it is here where we find ourselves.

Because Jesus’ Kingdom has been inaugurated, his followers can begin, the moment they choose to follow him, to live in the ways of the Kingdom — ways of justice, peace, joy, hope, love, patience and the like. They can experience what he meant when he promised life to the full, more and better life than they ever imagined. That promise is true. That Kingdom reality is available. At the same time, the reality is marred by temptation, by sin, by an enemy who does not want you to believe that and so tempts you to be a slave to disordered desires. That is the human story, it is the Christian’s story. Likely it is your story; there are things, struggles, sins that you seem to never be completely free from. With the help of Jesus and others you can and must work on them. Yet even in the victories, there are failures. Your heart cries that you are wretched.

But the King, Jesus, looks at you cries louder, “you are loved.” The Gospel message in the face of our failures makes us aware that although you may be more flawed and sinful than you ever dared believe, you are at the same time more loved and accepted than you ever dared hope. In the struggles hear the words of the hope from Paul, “Thanks be to God, who delivered me through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Peace, hope and love

Doug