A great lesson every Christian needs to learn is that it is all right to be human. Now this does not mean it is all right to be sinful. Sometimes we get the two confused as we minimize our sins by the fact that we are “just human.” We use the safety net of human frailty to rationalize our weaknesses. We almost blame God for our character flaws rather than assume any personal responsibility for our misdeeds. Although we are created in the image of God, we must address the weaknesses of the flesh with integrity and grace.
It is a theological and moral error to make our God-given humanity the scape-goat for all our transgressions. The truth of the matter is that being human and being sinful are not necessarily synonymous. Being human means it is all right not to know all the answers. It is all right to admit our spiritual weaknesses. It is all right to cry. It is all right to apologize and lean on each other for support. It is all right to confess our sins and seek forgiveness from God and whomever we may have offended.
Being human means that it is all right to lean on the everlasting arms of God and to resign as general manager of the universe. In fact, it is without question “more right” to be human, because the structure of our human personality cannot stand the strain of trying to play God. No doubt, we sin more in our attempt to be God than in our struggle with being human. We have far too much to learn about the dynamics of our own humanity before we begin taking lessons in the art of being divine.
Yet, we seem to be incurably possessed with the need to hate, to condemn, and to return evil for evil. We are forever trying to improve on what we perceive to be “God’s creative blunders” as we seek to re-create everyone in our own image. Everyone who does not have our brand of spirituality and religious disposition is the object of our concern and sometimes the object of our scorn. Jesus calls us to love those we label as “enemy” which may mean to love those who are different. There is a lot of diversity in His kingdom.
Our greatest need may be that we relax our ambition to be judges and umpires of each other’s lives. There is great relief when we grow to understand that “vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.” After all, being human means that we understand our common plight. We struggle to forgive and forget. We learn to be healers instead of agitators. Somewhere along life’s journey we begin to accept our servant role as the best expression of our humanity.
I’m very grateful for this post. I am horrible at judging people for being failures, while either dismissing my own faults or wallowing in them. It’s just too hard to play God. I hate cliches, but it would seem that, “God is God and I am not” is a good statement here. Glad I found your site. Keep up the good work!
Thank you, Dan. Dr. Metcalf is a wise man and I’ve come to value his counsel.
Our emotions rule our decisions. It does get us in a lot of trouble. 🙂
True, Mary. I try to shove emotion in the closet when making important decisions…doesn’t always work, though!
I suppose there are some that think they can improve on “God’s creative blunders” but the way I look at it is that He is God and He does not make mistakes. It’s us poor humans who fail to see and understand His purpose and in doing so try to make it something it wasn’t intended to be.
These days, Sire, there are a lot of people who seem to think they know more than God. I knew one who thought she WAS God… turned out not to be the case: 5 years in prison taught her that.
Silly woman, everyone knows God is a man.
“My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.” One of my favourites that. Yes we are just passing through, creatures of flesh and time, so best we accept our position of servitude and paradoxically this sets us free.
Well said, Richard.
“Being human means it is all right not to know all the answers. It is all right to admit our spiritual weaknesses.” Well said.