Dead Dead

My mother hated snakes.  She was told by folk that black snakes killed mice and were helpful creatures for the ecosystem, but mom would hear none of it.  Any snake on the property would soon be a dead snake.  When my mother killed a snake, she killed it dead dead.  A hoe or shovel with a long handle was the weapon of choice.  Of course, a dead snake will still writhe a little.  But if it did, my mother would kill it again until it stopped moving.  She would continue to chop it up until there was nothing left to move.  Hey, I understand my mother’s hatred for snakes.  I have personal sins that I hate and try to kill.  But they just keep coming back.  I kill them, but in a few days, they are right back alive in the darkest recesses of my life.  I hate them.  But the good things that I want to do, they keep dying out.  I make a commitment to read my Bible each day, but in a week, I forget.  I make a commitment not to gossip or slander, but in a week, my wicked tongue is back alive and well once again.  Hey, Paul had it absolutely right in Romans 7:7-25.  Read that whole passage today.  Paul finally said in Rom 7:24&25, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”  Paul was just like me, and you are just like me and Paul!  We must surrender to Jesus Christ every day.  Only Jesus can keep my spiritual life alive and keep my selfish life dead.  Dead, dead!