[confronting humanness]

"to err is human, to forgive is divine"

i don't know who wrote that and right now i don't really care to do the homework on it. but while it surfaces as humility, the core smacks of hubris, contempt and self-efficacy.

the root of the problem is hiding behind our ability to be human. the counter argument is that we are human beings. or, in the most literal definition, we have the very nature of all that is human. while i am not saying that we are not homo sapiens, i am arguing that as christians, we are born again and because of this, we are no longer bound to the rules of being human.

i guess the greater question is if we associate errors with our humanity and forgiveness with divinity, are we, then, both human and divine? the biblical answer is complex and is in no way easy to explain. to write off and say that we are solely natural with spiritual attributes is a start but it diminishes the depth of our inheritance as heirs of Christ. to flat out say we are divine would be paradoxical at best, heritical at worst, and it does little more than elevate our minds to a point where we believe we are divine and we answer to no one.

genesis recounts that God created man in His image out of the dust of the ground, then God breathed into man. creation and animation. but we are the more than the sum of simple creation and animation.

we have been endowed with power from on high, empowered to do the will of God through the Holy Spirit, and encouraged to follow the example set by Christ. so what are we afraid of? what are we hiding behind?

it is true that we may find ourselves afraid of what others think of us, however, the only Person we should be concerned about is God-- and He has told us what He thinks of us. He has shown us what He thinks about us. He loves us. more than that, He adores us.

if the Creator of all things adores us, then what is there to be afraid of? if God be for us, then who can stand against us? not even the gates of hell will prevail against the ever increasing kingdom of our Lord.

to err is human. it is a part of human nature. an almost unreconcilable fact in our lives. we will make errors. but will we allow those errors to define us?

to forgive is divine. we have been gifted the ability to forgive- to be unable to forgive would be a death sentence of eternal guilt. by granting forgiveness, we are not elevated to a divine status, we are partnering with the Uncreated One to release others (and even ourselves) from the guilt of condemnation and the weight of judgement.

is it a divine skill? no. it is a right of the Divine that He has allowed us to partake in. as such, the freedom one experiences in both the act of forgiveness and being forgiven certainly can certainly feel a lot like divinity.