July 18, 2019 – Click here to listen
I made some very derogatory remarks to a friend of mine about a guy I know who I’m going to see at an event in a few weeks. He said some rather nasty and derogatory things to me over the phone one day and I mentioned to my buddy that it would be interesting to see what he had to say with me standing there in front of him ready to do battle. I should forgive him, but those words still burn in my ears and my flesh makes me want to punish him severely. I realize this is a sin, and I should forgive him and have asked for forgiveness not just for holding the grudge but what “I” said to “him” on that same phone call.
I suppose the Holy Spirit is tired of my antics and this morning led me to some writings of famed intellect and former avowed atheist, C.S. Lewis, concerning his struggles with similar sins. He said:
“We begin to notice, besides our particular sinful acts, our sinfulness; begin to be alarmed not only about what we do, but about what we are. This may sound rather difficult, so I will try to make it clear from my own case. When I come to my evening prayers and try to reckon up the sins of the day, nine times out of ten the most obvious one is some sin against charity; I have sulked or snapped or sneered or snubbed or stormed. And the excuse that immediately springs to my mind is that the provocation was so sudden and unexpected; I was caught off my guard, I had not time to collect myself. Now that may be an extenuating circumstance as regards to those particular acts: they would obviously be worse if they had been deliberate and premeditated. On the other hand, surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light.”
Hmmm . . . So, I guess I’m a rat. My buddy kept on and on trying to stir up my anger about the situation with provocative remarks, entirely so he could chastise me for saying the very words he was trying to extract from me. He was clumsy and a 3 year old could see what he was attempting, but I turned it around on his hypocritical exercise by asking him when he became the perfect man. He tried to act like he is some saint and I’ve heard him spew some of the vilest comments imaginable more than once. Ugh . . .
Can any of us be saved from our fallen nature? Yes, but only through the blood of Christ. We all fall short and are undeserving of God’s grace, and yet, Jesus loves us anyway. I hate to disappoint him with my infantile antics, and I thank Him for His sacrifice for me a sinner . . .
Romans 3:24
Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.