My belief is that it is sin whenever what we do harms another or ourselves. And we all do it all the time. When I preach anything that is even anywhere near preaching against sin, I include myself in that sermon. It is always "we"..including me. And I try to make it quite clear that I am speaking as one sinner to another.
Some sin we commit just because we are not careful and thoughtful. Other sin we deliberately commit. But we all do sin. Everyday we need to look back one day and say to ourselves, "Have I hurt anyone ? Did I inadvertently hurt anyone? Did anything I did hurt someone?" Then we need to try to make it right.
Yesterday I cleaned the kitchen thoroughly...floor, counters, I went over everything carefully...everything.
After I had finished, Bob came in to get a cup of coffee. Because he was not careful, he ran his coffee over the top of the cup onto the counter top. I moved to clean it up..scolding him that "I had just finished cleaning that!" He insisted he would clean it up himself. In reaching for a sponge, he knocked over the entire cup and it ran down the side of the cabinet spilling it all over the floor. Then I really had a mess. I ran him out of the kitchen and mopped up the mess. He got angry and I got angry and we both said some things we shouldn't.
Now that was sin. Not on his part. His was an accident. But I overreacted, as I do from time to time. Bob is older and slower and a little clumsy in his old age. I should be more loving when I deal with that instead of impatient as I tend to be. These days, those are the types of sins I suffer with. I work on it but I seem to never conquer it completely.
It seems I am a wounded healer.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
No, not a wounded healer - just human.
Margie...we all over react once in a while. We are, as Betty said, human.I always say that I won't act that way again, but it happens.We get tired, hot, just out of sorts and it happens. You're a good person and Bob is lucky to have you and you him.
Thank you, Balisha. I never dwell on my sins. I just try very hard to eliminate them. But as long as I'm human, I know I will sin. I apologized to Bob this morning and he said, "no problem. I knew where you were coming from".
Margie, I read your post this morning and went away to clean the bathroom and think.
When I left evangelicalism I left 'sin' with them. They're skilled in using it to cause guilt. I have thought very little about 'sin' since. However, for the sake of this conversation I'll talk about it.
In my opinion, I would say what Gov. Mark Sanford did was a 'sin.' What you and Bob did was the normal give and take of marriage.
My Bob is 10 years older than me, and I developed a short fuse when I was around him. It took me 42 years to figure out I would never win an argument with him and I needed to figure out a new system.
When I retired, and the pressure of work was gone, and I knew we were moving to Oregon I decided to turn over a new leaf.
Now he thanks me often for taking good care of him and has told the children I don't fuss at him anymore.
Does this mean I never lose patience with him. Absolutely not. Most of the time I catch myself before starting an argument, or early enough that I see it's going to be an argument and I stop my end of it.
I think facing the possibility of Bob's death twice in the last few years has also helped me to have more patience.
I don't think it's possible for two people to live together and not exchange harsh words from time to time.
You did not sin. You just experienced the normal side of marriage.
Thanks for the kind words, Linda. Perhaps you are right but I still felt the need to apologize.
Our church talks very little about sin. We are mostly an affirming bunch. We talk about using our giftedness and finding and encouraging others's giftedness.
Once I guest ministered at a congregation that had many hard living people that had been converted to Christianity in a jail Bible Study ministry. They worried a lot about sin. It held some back from using their gifts. I had a different sermon prepared altogether but decided instead to speak about God's marvelous grace.
I had wonderful freedom I seldom have and I think it was because that was the message those folks needed to hear. I was amazed that they seemed to be glued to what i was saying.
Afterward dozens came up and thanked me for that message. It must have struck a chord. Here's the thing; people who are converted from hard living are the perfect ones to minister to those who are hard living. There is no judgment..only caring love.
Thank you so much for responding to my post. It has been very helpful.
Post a Comment