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“With my burden I begin; Lord, remove this load of sin; Let Thy blood, for sinners spilt, Set my conscience free from guilt.
“Lord, Thy rest to me impart. Take possession of my heart; There Thy blood-bought right maintain And without a rival reign.”
It is not at all unusual for many sports teams, especially high school and college teams, to have rivals. In big cities and small towns, historic cross-town rivalries are played out year after year on local athletic fields. Television reality shows set up rivals to compete in different contests, including singing, dancing, cooking, or surviving in the wilderness. Neighbors or family members establish personal rivalries among themselves. Who makes the best barbeque? Who has the best golf game?
There is a far more serious rivalry over the possession of our hearts, a struggle we experience each day. Will we do the will of God as we know it from His Word or will we follow the temptations of the devil, the world with its pleasures, and our own sinful desires? The apostle Paul knew all about that daily struggle. Christ’s chosen ambassador called himself the foremost of sinners because he knew and experienced the war within his own heart: “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:15). It was a confusing and constant struggle in his heart and mind between doing what he knew to be the will of God and doing what was hateful both to himself and to his Lord. Yet even as that struggle threatened to overwhelm him, Paul knew who truly had possession of his heart: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25a). Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, the apostle had already been delivered. The victory belongs to Jesus Christ!
This is not a contest that we could ever win on our own. Our hymn is a prayer that shows us the way to live within the victory that is already ours: “Lord, remove this load of sin.” We repent of our sins and ask the Lord to remove that burden, washing it away in His blood shed on the cross. We ask that Jesus would, with His forgiveness and love, take possession of our hearts. It is the territory that He won through His suffering and death on the cross and His triumphant resurrection. He has, so to speak, planted His banner of love and victory in our hearts. It is territory that Jesus bought with His own blood, and we pray that He would remain there and “without a rival reign.”
WE PRAY: Jesus, reign without a rival in my heart and lead me to walk in Your ways. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Carol Geisler. It is based on the hymn, “Come, My Soul, with Every Care,” which is number 779 in the Lutheran Service Book.
Reflection Questions:
- What’s a rivalry in your world that others may not know about?
- How do you deal with your own internal struggle and divided loyalty that Paul mentions in respect to doing good and doing evil? See Romans 7:4-25 for help.
- Can we be triumphant over our flesh on our own? What has God done to give us this victory?
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