As you study the Old Testament, you see God’s people caught in a cycle. I’ve heard it described as one of rebellion, retribution, repentance, and restoration. It happens over and over and over.
God’s people keep forgetting. They keep going back to old ways. They keep returning to idol worship and self-determinism and a whole host of bad choices.
It’s almost like this is the 4,000-year object lesson. God’s people have to repeat this cycle for generation after generation to truly learn this: Left on their own, they will mess it all up.
They cannot save themselves.
They cannot save themselves.
The OT closes on this horrible realization.
And the NT opens to point us to Jesus.
And the NT opens to point us to Jesus.
Many of us still get caught in this old cycle today. We keep forgetting. We keep going back to old ways. We keep returning to idol worship and self-determinism and a whole host of bad choices.
Even Paul seems to know about this. “I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. …What a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?”
And after this horrible realization in his own life, Paul immediately points to Jesus. biblegateway.com/passage/?searc…
So look, if you find yourself fighting a cycle of bad habits and bad choices, you are not alone. God’s people always have.
But there is hope. There is Jesus.
But there is hope. There is Jesus.
This thread is already too long, but let me offer just one more thought. There is SO MUCH to say about how we can/should battle and overcome our bad habits and bad choices. But it seems to me that it must *begin* with this realization: We are loved.
Paul says there is no condemnation for those of us who belong to Jesus. God does not stand by just relishing an opportunity to punish us for our wretched lives. He sends Jesus. He pursues us. He accepts us. He forgives us. God deeply and genuinely loves us.
Feeling convicted is good and right. But battling our bad habits and choices begins with finding freedom from shame and condemnation. Because *shame is the fuel* for those things!
Shame says you are ruined, a failure, worthless, unlovable.
The more you believe these things, the more anxious and depressed and desperate you become.
The more we feel those things, the more tempted we are to return to easy, familiar, quick fixes: our old habits and choices.
The more you believe these things, the more anxious and depressed and desperate you become.
The more we feel those things, the more tempted we are to return to easy, familiar, quick fixes: our old habits and choices.
So if you find yourself struggling, you have work to do. And sometimes it is really long, hard work. But before anything else, know this – you are loved.
You. Are. Loved.
/fin
You. Are. Loved.
/fin
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