Watchman Nee tells a wonderful story about a clumsy servant. As long as the servant sits still and does nothing, his clumsiness is not apparent. But the moment you ask him to serve, trouble begins. He knocks over furniture, drops plates, and makes a frightful mess. In Nee’s parable, we are the clumsy servant because we are all sinners by nature. If God asks nothing of us, all seems to go well, but as soon as he demands something of us, the occasion is provided for a grand display of our sinfulness. (The Normal Christian Life, p.157) The problem is that we think we’re free but we’re not. We’re prisoners of sin but we don’t know it until the law comes along and asks us to do something we cannot do. The law reveals our bondage to sin. I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not … I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. (Rom 7:14, MSG) Picture a prisoner living in a small cell. He’s been there so long he’s become institutionalized. His cell is all he knows. He thinks it’s his home and has decorated it with flowers made out of toilet paper. Then [...]