We're Only Human

Sometimes being a Christian sucks. It just does. We are called by Jesus to a higher standard that requires us to humble ourselves before our enemies - to not hate them, to not wish them harm, to not want to run as far away from them as possible, to not fear them. But there are so many of them, so many people that wish us ill, or hate us, or chase us, or make us afraid. Its hard not to want to lash out, to strike back, to say derogatory things, to hide and run away. It is in our nature to do so. And to do the opposite is almost more difficult than dealing with the enemy in the first place.

We are only human. Our entire knowledge of the world is shaped by the things we perceive using our senses - things we see, things we hear, things we touch, things we smell, and things we taste. While we can KNOW people by seeing them regularly or hearing from them on the phone, or, unfortunately, smelling them, or more fortunately touching them or tasting them - we can never really KNOW KNOW them. We can't see inside their heads and we can't envision the world the way they envision it. We can't know what they see, or hear, or touch, etc... This can make us feel quite lonely even when we are in amongst a large group of people. Sometimes, we just can't communicate the way we feel, and we can't understand the way people feel about us. We are left to guess what those feelings are and to act on those guesses. At times, this can create an agony in us far greater than anything we are actually experiencing because we imagine that our guesses are our perceptions. We imagine being slighted. We imagine people whispering about us behind our backs. We imagine conversations that never take place. We FEAR for ourselves and our situations from imaginary foes. And we act on those fears. It is, perhaps, the most human thing that we do.

Those fears can lead to us to suspect that some people have bad feelings towards us. They can make us "realize" that we are not well liked or well received. They can exacerbate a situation that was minor and turn it into a major battle. We begin to be ANGRY with our friends, family and brothers and sisters. We begin to try and pick fights with them, just to confirm that which we already know. We can begin to HATE our enemies. And we can begin to act on that hate by drawing inside ourselves, by returning slights - real or imagined, by actively trying to give back the hatred that we've received. We can become perpetrators when we thought we were victims. We can try to destroy people over the mere perception that they are trying to destroy us.

And when we give in to these hatreds, we only bring SUFFERING. Suffering for ourselves and for our enemies and for everyone else caught up in the middle. When there is a breakdown in the safe and normal social order, everyone suffers. If one person suffers, a ripple effect will spread that suffering to everyone connected with that one person. And when two people are fighting, the number of people suffering doubles.

There is only one known way to circumvent the entire process - FORGIVENESS. And no, not in the way that we are naturally inclined to think as humans. No, we are not to seek forgiveness from others, we are to offer it. And offer it again. And again and again and again. We are to ask forgiveness of our friends, and family and brothers and sisters for thinking ill of them and for taking offense to minor things and for not being able to better communicate our feelings and our fears, to constantly feel the need for reassurance, to not trust their motivations, to not embrace them no matter what deficiences we perceive them to have. We are to offer forgiveness, to humble ourselves before them, and to seek reconciliation.

Its not easy being a Christian. It goes against everything we've ever felt deep down inside. And yet, it is so important for us to follow these precepts. It is important for us to love one another as God loves us.

Fear leads to anger and anger leads to hate and hate leads to suffering. But forgiveness leads to love and to God. We can't choose to be human. But we can choose to be forgiven.