Ode to the Grocery cart

Have you noticed that our children are kind of like grocery carts? When a child is born, they are all shiny and clean, and will go where ever we want them to go. But somewhere along the way, say around two years old, the grocery cart starts to get a little wobbly. Something happens to one wheel. I don’t know if they bump over something that makes them do that, or what, but all of a sudden you are struggling to go in the right direction. The entire time you are in the store, you are fighting with that darn cart to get it where you want it to go. You are wanting to go to the butter and cheese, and suddenly you find yourself in the canned peas!* The funny thing is, all grocery carts are like that. You can never find one that doesn’t go bad on you!

Well, unfortunately, that tendency doesn’t go away as adults. As the apostle Paul put it:
“What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary. But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?” (Romans 7:15-24)

So we push that grocery cart all round the store, hoping that the wheel will fix itself, and it never does. Even if we have money and fame, we can’t seem to get that wheel fixed. So, how do we fix our grocery carts?

Read the rest of Romans. You’ll get it.

Fighting my broken wheel,
Brandie

*Thank you to Tom Tanner and Mark Nysewander of Riverstone Church for inspiration.