There are profound messages that I have come across upon my recent reading of "Sacred Marriage" by Gary Thomas. The art of literature is incredibly beautiful to me because it provides a way to gain vast amounts of insight through other people's experiences, epiphanies, passions, and revelations from the Lord. There are few things in this world that are as convicting, spiritually aiding, timeless, and intellectually challenging as books. There are few things that require as much patience as reading. Yet, the act of opening those pages offers a gift that can continually influence us for the rest of our lives -- as we persistently seek true wisdom and understanding with an open and discerning heart. I believe it to be necessary to always have the Word of God to fall back on in the face of human imperfection within literary sources, but there are tokens of knowledge that we can pick apart which can contribute to assisting our spiritual growth.
The short term effort that it takes to read a book, far outweighs with the benefits it reaps in the long term. We may decide to pick up a device for instant gratification and entertainment. Yet, through reading, stories remind us of our potential, our call to action in a fleeting world, and that there's so much more to living than society seems to offer and expect from us.
Due to our fallen nature, how natural it is to slip into bitterness towards another sinner is unfortunately easy. It will require us to fight against our every carnal tendency in order to resist such urges in the face of pride, self-pity, self-consumption, and every other sin that rears its head.
Gary Thomas, however, presents a unique perspective on sin that came across as quite profound for me. In fact, it has already helped ease the blow of dealing with human imperfection when put to practice.
You see, Mr. Thomas encourages us to view sin as an illness; to treat is as any other disease or disorder such as cancer or cystic fibrosis or even a bad case of the flu. When we look at wickedness in this light, we begin to take pity on the victim and remember that the sinner is not the enemy- the sin is. The sinner is merely caught within the snare, and this allows us to be moved with compassion for the person that is affected. This is a much lighter burden to bear -- both for us and the other individual. This mindset allows us to feel empathy and sorrow for that person that is hurting us, hurting those we love, or acting in a way that irritates us. If we allow bitterness to be planted, it will grow and do more harm than good. What started out as an irritation festers and germinates into hatred in the long term. What you have allowed to sprout tells more about you and your character than the person that you hate. Relationships are like a mirror which allow us to be confronted with our true intentions, sinful tendencies, and the potential to work on those faults with humility rather than pride. We must have empathy towards people as we seek to understand them, all the while knowing that we have never been in their shoes or walked their path. We will never truly know the extent of what they went through in their childhood or the trials they face when others are not watching. Our job is not to know, because that's God's job; our duty is to seek to understand in the midst of uncertainty, refrain from judgement, and fight against our own sin. We would want others to have the same mercy toward us. Not to go without mentioning, Jesus demonstrated the ultimate example of mercy when He died for those whom crushed Him with the weight of their sins.
Scribbles for thought: I was recently confronted with a trying situation in which someone was treating me unkindly and began to raise their voice amidst me attempting to help them. Although I became internally frustrated and felt like crying, I was able to remind myself of this message and put it to practice. It was so releasing to walk away from the situation, come back with a clear mind, and have a normal conversation with this individual once again. I don't think she ever realized that she had hurt me by her actions. However, showing her love in return was so much more rewarding than letting sin get in the way of the compassion that I had the opportunity to demonstrate to her through our time together. I reminded myself of how she must feel: a three-time cancer survivor, hardly able to do anything for herself after being such an independent person throughout her life, and having to lug around oxygen wherever she goes. No wonder she was irritated! Wouldn't most of us be? From this perspective, I can show Jesus' example. In this world, it is my job to uphold His kingdom's testimony, so I must continually nudge pride out of the way and let love cover all sins.
(A beautiful practice that helps with this is repentance, asking for forgiveness, forgiving, and starting anew every day -- and in the moments throughout the day when we fail.)
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