To Be Human Is To Sin

“Humans are amphibians - half spirit and half animal.  As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time. This means that while their spirit can be directed to an eternal object, their bodies, passions, and imaginations are in continual change, for to be in time, means to change. Their nearest approach to constancy, therefore, is undulation--the repeated return to a level from which they repeatedly fall back, a series of troughs and peaks.” 

-C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

To be human is to struggle.  Perhaps the one thing that is shared most by the human race, the greatest common denominator, is that of the sin experience.  This battle between light and dark, duty and desire, others and self : it is a battle fought by all, but conquered only by One.  

The above C.S. Lewis quote sums up this "human condition" perfectly, and it basically means that the one thing in life we can truly expect is that we will fall...again and again and again.  

To be human is to struggle.  To be human is to sin.

So how can we possibly hope to break this cycle of mountain top and valley low?  Well for starters, the Good News is that Jesus Christ has already conquered this struggle through His life, death, and resurrection. It has always been His desire to mold each of us into the perfect, sinless creation that He intended for us to be, and so He made it possible for us to walk away from our sin.

But what does this look like on a practical level?  The answer is simple.  Though we may never fully be free from the bondage of sin in this lifetime, think of how much glory we can bring to God when we lay down our old, sinful flesh one day at a time, one step at a time, one CHOICE at a time.  One of the most beautiful things our Savior has done for us is that He gave us the ability to CHOOSE who we want to be.  It doesn't matter what you've done, what mistakes you've made.  It doesn't even matter what you did yesterday. We can choose God every single day.  We MUST choose Him!

You see I believe that every step we take, takes us either closer to or further away from the person we want to be.  If you want to learn to play the guitar, then you must practice.  If you want to be a runner, then you have to first get off the couch.  If you want to deepen your relationship with the Lord, then you must start putting Him first in everything you do.  

So we must all ask ourselves, "who do I want to be?".  And then we must MOVE in that direction. Be intentional about becoming the person you want to be, the person God wants you to be.  And when you fall, don't be discouraged.  Just get up! Choose Him once again!! 

To be human is to sin, yes.  But to be human is also to be FREE.  Let's start walking in that freedom that Jesus Christ offered us when he hung on the cross.  Let's break this cycle of ups and downs!  

I want to start living as the woman that God created me to be right now.  

Don't you?

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

-Galatians 5:1