Physician, Heal Thyself – #104

Christianity shouldn’t be difficult…. and the reason many people struggle is because they don’t know how grace operates. How can you appreciate the effects of grace if you don’t acknowledge your humanity and its limitations? I don’t believe in sinning intentionally, and I take careful measures, but I know I’m human. – Dacosta.

The fact that we are humans should be an advantage, not a disadvantage. Once you portray yourself as not human, people will start looking for your humanity, and trust me, they will find it because you are human. Stop fighting reality; we must painfully admit our limitations. We are humans. We are dust; we are not omnipresent, omnipotent, or omniscient. We are not incorporeal, morally perfect, imminent, transcendent, self-existent, or immutable. We are not any of these; we are human. And all the tendencies that follow human nature will eventually find us if we don’t embrace our humanity and find ways to keep it in check.

Scriptures do not hide the frailty of man. When Jesus was at Gethsemane, in his humanity, in his agony, he attempted to renegotiate salvation. He said to His Father in heaven, “Is it possible for us to renegotiate this deal?” Nevertheless, Your will be done, not mine (Luke 22:41). A couple of hours later, in serious pain and distress, he cried, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matthew 27:46).

Imagine if I prayed this prayer in church, in tears, before the assembly. You might hear people say, “Oh, Rev. Fr., we are disappointed; you aren’t a man of faith; you are destroying our faith. How could you pray such a prayer?” So listen up! When people clap for you and praise you, don’t stand there like one who maintained his discipline and or is intelligent and start to feel good about yourself. Rather, get down on your knees and say, “I am a man; it is God’s grace that has found me.”

When people are applauding you, and you understand your humanity, you will go down on your knees and sing the song of praise to glorify God in heaven. “Kept by the power of God, kept by the power of God. Day by day, come what may! Kept by the power of God.” Acknowledge your humanity; people need to know you get scared too, you get afraid sometimes, get angry, you are tempted often, and are capable of becoming all manner of things…. But it’s only GRACE that’s keeping you. That itself is a great testimony to the glory of God.

My surprise is the ease and speed with which we make comments, conclusions, and pronounce judgments over the humanity of men and women. That is where the problem is…. In our dealings with each other, let’s be patient and be constantly aware of the fact that, by far and large, we are all human. And it’s the reason why God is gracious to us, merciful, and compassionate to us.

Jesus demonstrated this compassion, not just love, with the woman caught in adultery. They brought the woman, with the man absent. Jesus said, “If there be anyone among you who has no sin, let him throw the first stone….” Jesus was saying, in effect, whoever has the moral credibility to judge this woman should pick up a stone and stone her. Scripture says, from the oldest, they started dropping their stones and began walking away. This means that as your age increases, the reality of your humanity dawns on you.

But note that Jesus didn’t leave the woman like that in her humanity. He gave her a helping hand, raised her above her situation, by forgiving her and telling her to go and sin no more. So the goal is not to endorse our humanity but to reveal it, so we can understand God’s system of Mercy, and thank God and say,

God, if not for you… if you didn’t add mercy to our walk with you, nobody will make it to heaven, nobody will survive on earth.

It’s amazing that people who usually condemn cannot survive half of the things they attempt to condemn. Some of us really need to go back and apologize to the people we judged and condemned without knowing the full story of their humanity. The mercy of God is sponsored by an understanding.

When I have the privilege of wiping people’s tears, I do it with all my heart. Someone comes to me and says, “Man of God, I have not prayed for weeks, and let me tell you the truth, I don’t know if I believe in God any longer….” This is the time to give the person a hug and say, “Brother, I understand you; I understand your struggle. Even though we fall,” God will lift us up again. His grace is sufficient for us. Why don’t you try this and that? God is in control… May I share a prayer with you? Be patient with people; it took you time to get to where you are, so give them time too. The young man may be arrogant, but he has a calling. Can you take him aside and help him work on his humanity instead of throwing the baby away with the bathwater?

I’m not proposing an endorsement of sin. All I’m saying is that in our dealings with men and women, we must always keep in mind that we are humans… Professor Hinfey (Rev. Fr.) used to say to us during our conferences,

If you think you’re not capable of committing a particular sin, you’re far from understanding human nature. Given the right temperaments, conditions, associations, experiences, and exposure, we’re all capable of anything as far as our human nature is concerned.

As 1 Corinthians 10:12 says, “Let those who think they are standing firm be careful that they don’t fall.” Don’t get ahead of yourself; if you want to boast, let your boast be in the Lord and His sufficient grace (1 Corinthians 1:31). Sometimes in life, good people make bad choices, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad people; it only means they’re human. You have no idea the pressure that man or woman is enduring, so when you hear something about them, pray for them. With this, I conclude the sub-topic “the humanity of man“… Join me in the next episode as we explore another sub-theme in this series (Physician Heal Thyself), titled “LEAVE NO MAN BEHIND“.

Shalom and God bless you

#PhysicianHealThyself ~ WATCH OUT FOR THE FIFTH EDITION!