I have a chance to walk with sinners every day, but I’ve got to tell you about my most difficult case – me. I am the most difficult sinner that I walk with because I know myself and my heart. There is still far too much darkness in my own heart that I need the light of Christ to dispel. So, I can say with Paul in Romans 7:24, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

As Christians we’re called to walk with our brothers and sisters who are sick with sin and burdened by it, as James 5:16 and Galatians 6:1 makes clear. Even so, we are not called to look down upon them as though we are completely and utterly free from sin. We will only be able to walk with and serve our brothers and sisters in Christ if we look deep within our own hearts and look to Christ. We must recognize our own wretchedness if we are to help other wretches too.

We must say with Paul in Romans 7:24, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” But we must not stop there. We must also say what he says in the next verse in Romans 7:25, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” We must give thanks to God that we have been bought by the blood of the blessed Redeemer. We must revel and rejoice in Christ if we are to help our brothers and sisters to do the same.

So dear Christian, walk with your brothers and sisters. Walk with sinners. As you do, remember that you are your own most difficult case, and that the Savior has come to make his blessings flow as far as the curse is found. So, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!