to sin is human

Remember that familiar saying, "to err is human, to forgive divine"?  This morning I was reflecting on sin...and how "to sin is human, to forgive divine." (not your typical early morning thoughts!).  It occurred to me that there is one inescapable reality, there are four consequences, and one preventive remedy for sin.  The inescapable reality is that each of us will sin.  It is in our nature to do that, even though the Lord has made payment already for the penalty...we still will blow it.  The tendency to sin has infiltrated our fabric and we may even surprise ourselves...but each of us will fall short of God's best from time to time.  There are four kinds of damage that sin causes.  First there is the direct damage of the sin, itself.  Second there is relationship damage with others as a collateral kind of damage.  Third, there is a break in your relationship with God and fourth there is damage to your relationship with yourself.  I think the last one is most interesting, because as you seek to recover from sin you have to begin with yourself.  One mistake I think many of us make is to "beat ourselves up" when we sin.  Naturally we're disappointed in ourselves, but if we just beat ourselves up we don't open up our understanding to learn from the sin.  After all, it was our "self" that blew it to begin with.  How can we hope to improve things by pummeling that same "self"?  No the healing has to begin with forgiveness.  We need to confess that we have blown it to God and to those we've wronged and acknowledge our human failure and then we are in a position to be restored in the broken relationships, to heal spiritually, and to learn a lesson that we can apply and grow from.  One preventive remedy is found in Psalm 119, verse 11 "Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You"  To the extent that God's thoughts reside within our thoughts we have a greater resilience and resistance to sin.  I believe that, even in the sin and recovery process, there is hope for spiritual growth. blessings, Rob Smith