I Hate Asparagus -- A Very Lose Paraphrase of Romans 7

Imagine if God made a law: “Everyone must eat asparagus on Sundays.” I would dread Sundays. And knowing my gag-reflex for asparagus, I probably would NOT eat it. And then I would feel very guilty. It's not that I disagree with God’s commandment. I am sure it's a good commandment. After all, asparagus must be good for me—vitamins, fiber, and probably other nutrients you can get nowhere else! It’s just me. It's the way I am wired! I can’t do it! I wish I was an asparagus-eating-loving-kind-of-guy, but I am just not. I wish there were some way I could change that law. Woe is me!

And then one day God says” “Greg, I am going to change your appetite—I am going to change your desire so that you will love asparagus.” And from that day on, I am a changed man. Now I look forward to Sundays—because I get to eat asparagus. Of course, I can eat asparagus any day of the week, but knowing God is pleased when I eat it on Sundays in particular, I love Sundays.

And now when someone says, “Do you know that God has commanded you to eat asparagus on Sundays?” I say: “Yes, I know, and I just love Sundays." Whether there is a law or not doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t need a law to make me eat asparagus on Sundays. The law is inside of me; it’s in my heart. I am an asparagus-lover by nature.

I wanted to change the law, but instead God changed me. It’s not a new law I needed; it was a new nature.

“This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people…I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone [asparagus-hater] from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh [asparagus-lover] ” (Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:26).