| Up, Down, Up, Down, Up - article by Joel Hempel
This past summer, Marcia and I went to Branson and Silver Dollar City for a few days. Silver Dollar City, as some of you know, is a cross between an amusement park and an entertainment venue. A popular roller coaster ride at the park is Fire In the Hole. I would not go on it, but Marcia did. She likes the wild, up-and-down ride. Not me! St. Paul gives us a different kind of up-and-down ride – but not for our amusement. Look at the sequence of the following passages from three back-to-back-to-back chapters in Romans 6:4, 7:19, 24, and 8:1. Note the italicized and enlarged words (my emphasis). UP: We were buried therefore with [Christ] by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. DOWN: I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Wretched man that I am! UP: Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! DOWN: So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. UP: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. These verses – which St. Paul generously shares from his own experience - are a gift to every Christian because they reveal the vulnerable, up-and-down struggle all Christians experience in our spiritual roller-coaster journey through life. For a while, we feel good about our walk with God; then, we take a nosedive, succumbing to temptation. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit reminds us we are God’s beloved child, and we take hold of God’s grace and repent. In time, we again entertain destructive thoughts that lead to an unwise decision, unkind words, or selfish behavior. But in time, we see the error of our ways and by God’s grace turn away from our foolishness . . . Although there is no getting off the spiritual roller-coaster, as we grow by the power of the Holy Spirit, the spiritual ups and downs become less severe as we intentionally depend on and use the resources God provides for the journey (see 1 Cor. 10:13; James 4:7; Gal. 5:16-17, 22; Eph. 6:13; Phil. 4:6-8, 12-13; James 5:13-16). As we grow in faith and faithfulness to Jesus, we may still get discouraged or even frightened that we keep messing up and sinking into sin, but God has given us a blood-bought promise: You are mine! I will not let go! I will do for you as I did with Peter sinking into the Sea of Galilee. I will help you UP! Believe it; it’s true: There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Live in the now! | 
