I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the race.
We read in the bible that our walk with Christ is likened to a running a race (Philippians 3) - that we are striving towards the goal.
This is NOT the race I am referring to however.
I would like to welcome you all to the "human race".
Now before you start to think I have finally snapped, allow me a few moments of your time.
So many think or feel that, because they are saved by the grace of Almighty God, that there are things they should not think or feel or whatever - that somehow, they are in no part, human any longer. So I would like to show you a few people in scripture that you may have a few things in common with.
The apostle Peter. Not only did he deny even knowing Jesus, not once but three times in a row, but he also played the role of the hypocrite (see Galatians 2). Why did he deny knowing our Lord? Fear perhaps. Pain of loss. Confusion. Probably a few other things as well.
James and John. These two, after being shunned by a Samarian village take a (for lack of a better term) temper tantrum and decide they should call down "fire from heaven" to incinerate them (Luke 9). Pretty serious tantrum if you ask me. Luckily for that village, our Lord was there to stop them from doing anything "stupid".
Paul. Who can forget the verse from Romans 7 "For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing". It would make no sense for him to write that if he were doing all he thought he should be doing or not doing those things which he did not feel he should do. The "struggle" we face constantly here in this world was quite alive and well for Paul.
How about in the OT? Anyone in there of note?
How about all of Israel who, on a regular basis, turned away from who they KNEW was the one true God for all kinds of reasons - none of which in hindsight were good ones (not that there could there ever be a good reason).
The prophet Elijah who, feeling afraid and completely unworthy, prayed for God to take his life from him. Ever hit that point yourself? I will admit I have more than I care to think about.
Then we have David. The man whose heart God loved so much. Consider, if you will, this that he wrote in Psalms 13, verses 2 and 3 "How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day, have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death". On a side note, he lived after writing this. But he hardly seemed to "have it altogether" now did he?
The long and short of it is, that we are indeed saved and we are a new creation, but the old is still here as well. We are, in fact, still human. As such, we feel pain, sorrow, anger, fear, failure, defeated, etc, etc etc. We are no less saved or set aside by God for the way we feel or the fact that we do not always react the way we think we should. Sin is still there after all, even if the penalty for it is not held against us. Something I heard once: "It is not committing sin that makes us a sinner, it is the fact that we are sinners that we commit sin". Handy info to remember sometimes.
Perhaps you feel this does not apply to you at. Perhaps you are one of those who feel that you are totally free from sin. Not free from the price of it, but actually sinless. You find yourself looking at others and thinking or saying things like "Ugh. Look at what a they are doing. I am so glad I am not like those people" or something similar. Well, do not fear for you too are mentioned in the pages of scripture.
Specifically, in the teachers, leaders and pharisees who led my Lord and Savior before Pilate so long ago to be tortured and killed in a most horrific manner - crucifixion.
Cannot speak for you, but personally, I would rather be in the first grouping - human.
