Because of Grace

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. 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 on 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. So I find this law at work: When 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 the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. --Romans 7:14-25

I write a lot about "shoulds" on this site. I examine my life and see areas where I need to grow and become more like Christ. This is important, but I don't want my "shoulds" to take precedent over God's grace in my walk. I don't want to forget and I don't want others to miss God's grace that has covered my "shoulds". His grace is the miracle; my "shoulds" are merely my shoddy attempts to live a more Christ-like life. They will never add up to what His grace has done. Even more, the truth in Paul's words is that as much will and effort as I can muster to live out the "shoulds" in my life, I will inevitably fail because of my humanity. God knew this ahead of time about each of us, which is why He sent us a Savior. It is good to try to live your life by Biblical principles ("shoulds"); it is wrong to measure your own worth or the worth of others by the extent to which these "shoulds" are carried out. Do not be mistaken--"shoulds" do not lead to salvation. The Bible is clear the only way for us to be rescued from our "bodies of death," as Paul writes, is through the grace of our Lord. I attend to the "shoulds" because they're important for my witness to others and for my own growth as a Christian woman. The "shoulds" are not "musts" for my salvation. I praise God that He finished the work of my salvation when He sent Jesus to die for me. The only essential "must" has been done for me so that I can daily struggle with the "shoulds" without having to worry about the "must". I thank Him for His grace, and I plead with Him for help as I try to live my life in deeper gratitude and constant recognition for that gift as I see more and more each day how terribly short my own efforts, like Paul's, fall.