When Good Intents Go Bad

Scripture

Romans 7:15-25a

¹⁵I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

²¹So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. ²²For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, ²³but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  (NRSV)

Devotion

I am a big fan of an anime series called RWBY.  RWBY begins when a young, gifted, teeneger named Ruby Rose enrolls in a school that trains adolescents be their world's protectors and peace-sowers.  Ruby starts out full of youthful idealism, but as the series progresses, she and her classmates learn that life is much more complicated than they realized.  Sometimes people make all the wrong decisions for all the right reasons.   Sometimes the choices that are in line with their training make situations worse instead of better.  Sometimes good people (who only meant to help) cry out in horror as they face the consequences of their actions.

Ruby may be a secular show, but it speaks to the situation Paul describes in his letter to the Romans.  Paul says that he wants to do what is right, but his actions keep turning out to be wrong.  The sin that dwells within him corrupts his attempts to follow God's law and wreaks havoc on the world.   Paul tries over and over again to do better, but he seems powerless to stop this problem on his own.

It's easy to take Paul's grief and confusion as proof that we need to be liberated from God's law.  There is, however, a better way to interpret this passage. God's law is good.  The problem is that human sin is so powerful that we can turn even a good and holy thing into an instrument of evil.  As  Ted A. Smith of Vanderbilt Divinity School writes, "Sin is an active, aggressive power that seizes hold of God's good gifts--like the law--and bends them toward death.  Death came not because Paul could not keep the law, but because he could, and did....We do what we mean to do, on one level, but then discover that on a deeper, defining level, we are doing exactly the opposite of what we hope to do" (208).

Paul's words hit home right now.  We, too, do not always understand our own actions.  We want to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, but the news keeps reporting of how churches' deicsion to return to public worship have resulted in outbreaks and death.   We desire  peace and stability throughout our land, but what our society calls "peace" is a facade.  Just beneath the smooth surface, lies a turmoil of pain and injustice.  Even our desire to "save" people can lead us to do more harm than good as we ignore people's context, perspective, and capabilities. We mean to show love and reconciliation, but we aid the cause of hatred and alienation.  Like Paul before us, nothing we do on our own seems to turn out right.

So do we just give up?  By no means!  When Paul realizes that he can't make his actions mirror his intentions on his own, he finds his help in Jesus Christ, who rescues him from the power of sin.  Like Paul, we can admit our failures and ask Christ to rescue us from this body of death.  When we humble ourselves in this way and beg Christ for help, Jesus will give us the wisdom to discern what is right and good in God's eyes.  

Discerning God's will might lead us in directions we don't expect.  It may even make us deeply uncomfortable.  But when we have the courage and humility to follow Christ's lead, what we do will better mirror what we mean to do, and our human sinfulness will have fewer opportunities to turn God's good gifts into instruments of death.

One of the things I appreciate about RWBY is that the main characters never give up on their commitment to make the world a better place.  When things go terribly wrong, they grieve.  They grow.  They go on with their mission.  We have something that Ruby and her friends don't have.  We have Jesus Christ.  With Christ's help, we can learn to follow God's laws in ways that spread love, forgiveness, and reconciliation.  So let us ask Christ for a spirit of wisdom and compassion.  We may not always understand our own actions, but Christ can turn our confusion into purpose.  Through him, we can transform the world.

Prayer

Jesus, you know that our good intents do not always match the effects of our actions.  Fill us with your Spirit.  We trust that you will rescue us from sin's powerful grasp so that we may truly share your live with the world.  Amen.

Works Cited

Smith, Ted A.  "Romans 7:15-25a: Theological:al Perspective"  in  Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, edited by David. L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor.  Year A, Vol. 3, 206-210.  Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011.