GaryE
Jun 9, 2005
My wife just asked me today about people who make excuse for their sins. She asked, "What do you say when someone says, I'm only human, God understands"?Well, what do you say?In Christ,GaryE
My wife just asked me today about people who make excuse for their sins. She asked, "What do you say when someone says, I'm only human, God understands"?Well, what do you say?In Christ,GaryE
People constantly say this. And when they do I tell them they are exactly right. I agree with them. "You ARE human, and God DOES understand." This sometimes catches them off guard. You have validated what they have said, (not their reasoning or their justification of why they live the way they live) and now you have their attention and an open door to reveal what lies behing their 'mask', lovingly helping them to see that there IS no excuse for "being human" or "doing what comes naturally" because God offers them an exchange. Putting off the old man, dying to self, or as tinluke just posted today as well, something I preach and plead with people constantly...stop trying, that's your problem. God offers you a way, THE way out.This isn't a cookie cutter answer I give, but when someone is justifying their walk in the dark, the use of the law helps them 'see' as the Spirit of God is able to lift the blinders that rest over their hearts and minds. And then, if not later, point them to Christ...always, always, always...it's Jesus.
My wife just asked me today about people who make excuse for their sins. She asked, "What do you say when someone says, I'm only human, God understands"?It would depend on who says it. If I knew the person well enough I would say, (and often have) "if you are ONLY human that is the problem'. The answer, on the other hand, is to avail ourselves of exceeding great and precious promises whereby we may become partakers of a divine nature." (2Pet 1:3,4)“seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and virtue; whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in that world by lust.” (2Pet. 1:3-4, ASV)
Being human is no crime or sin.\tGod designed us to be totally dependant on Him as our only source. This fact is not sin. Sin is when we kick God off His rightful place of rulership over our lives and replace Him with our own self. Sin is independence from God. Sin is rebellion against God and going our own way.Please do not misunderstand me. I know that Christ was God in the flesh, but when He was on earth He was 100% human.Heb 4:15, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin”Romans 8:3, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:.”Heb 2:16-18, “For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto his brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted.I have never repented for being human, nor have I ever been convicted for being human.Do not mistake your being human as sinful.
Good points Freecd, Praise the Lord, it's not a sin to be human. However, when someone says "I'm only human", what they are really saying is that I don't want to change or repent. One might ask them if they are "going to heaven". If the answer in any positive form, ask them how they plan on getting there. Let the Holy Spirit take it from there. (Be sure you are certain of how you are going to get there too.) :-)
If I might suggest a sermon that has profoundly influenced my understanding of what it means to "be human" it is Paris Riedhead's The Tragedy of Third Generation Religion . It deals with a people who have not gone down into the river and died to our Old Man and are caught up in the god's of the land. It is a timeless message of principals that will revolutionize your understanding of our 'humanity' and how the enemy brings people into sin via the use of their own 'natural' and 'good' human desires. God Bless,-Robert
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