Are You on the Right Track?

Psychologists and psychiatrists use a variety of methods to delve into what makes us choose one decision over another. They help us to understand why we take unnecessary risks, why we refuse to follow the herd, and why we refuse help when a dangerous addiction overpowers us. By asking the right questions, they can unlock patterns of behavior that may turn destructive or start an individual on the road to self-confidence. If you are not a trained professional in the art of deciphering human behavior, where do we begin? The Bible records several instances of people acting inappropriately and later finding their moral compass. Would you believe that one such person was Paul the apostle? Someone who wrote nearly one third of the New Testament? That he would sum up his feelings of inadequacy, rise above them, and help us in the process? In Romans 7 Paul says, “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual”. “When I want to do good evil is right there with me”. Paul tries to get us to understand that ‘his’ struggle is ‘our’ struggle. This intensely personal perspective is his diagnosis of the human condition. Paul makes us aware that in this body of flesh, we contain a sinful nature, but at the same time, we may possess the Holy Spirit who can control that nature—if, we will only let Him do so.

A keen observer should see their life—in the universe—in perspective. In the picture above, do you see yourself traveling on the right track, headed for blue skies and greener pastures? What if the proper perspective is that you’re on the right track, but you’re coming ‘out’ of the tunnel, ‘out’ of the green grass, ‘out’ of the forest and into the unknown? Paul told us how to be prepared. Do you see Paul’s world perspective? Can you write down three things—three things you’re dead sure of, and three that you must do before you die? Does this indicate which track you’re on?

Regardless which track you’re on Christ is the only way. Paul says in Romans 7:15-20 “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but, I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” Paul recognizes he’s a wretched man and needs rescued from this body of death. He clearly states “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Hence there can be no condemnation for those who are in Christ for the Law of the Spirit of life sets us free from the law of sin and death. In the Book of Romans Paul knows we cannot do it on ‘our’ own. The Book of Romans is like a legal document and shows us that the law can show us the way to live but cannot live it for us. If, you’re on that train, choose the right track carefully.