What do you mean when you say "I'm only human?" Are you not a Christian also? A
Christian is not ONLY human, but SPIRIT also. When we are weak, do we not fall back to
being human, but as Christians, do we allow ourselves to settle for the weaknesses of the flesh as the standard for our lives. Humans are weak, greedy, arrogant, afraid, spiteful, and selfish. But when we become greedy, arrogant, afraid and so forth, can we brush it off simply with "Well, I'm only human." Christians are MORE than human, they have a higher standard to strive for. They, as humans, are weak, but they do not legitimize their weaknesses by settling for weaknesses as the standard of behavior.
When we are weak, God is strong. We find our strength in God. When we are greedy, God
is benevolent. We find our benevolence in God. When we are arrogant, frustrated, spiteful, and selfish, God remains patient, loving, kind and forgiving. Yes, we are human, but when we cannot find in ourselves the strength to overcome our human weaknesses, we recognize that there is a source of untold strength in God. But you don't pray or prayer is silly to you. Don't let others definitions of prayer prevent you from finding the strength you need to overcome adversity. God is surely "up there" in heaven.
But just as surely, the Holy Spirit is within you. Therein lies your strength. Faith in knowing that the Spirit will guide you and give you strength, Hope in searching deep down to find that strength, and knowing that it is there, and Trust in letting go of our own wants and desires and wishes, desires to get even, desires to have beyond our need, desires to strike out in anger, and instead listening to the desires of pure unselfishness, pure charity,pure forgiveness which come from God.
No it is not easy. Many will step in to the straight and narrow road, only to wander, find excuses, give in to temptations, and stumble from distractions. Many know the way, and intend to take it some day, but few have the commitment to stay on that road, forgive their past, their enemies, thwart temptation, and never content themselves with being "only human." No doubt it is difficult to control our feelings, but if your being human gives you strength to hate, get angry, strike out at someone, be greedy, then cut off your humanity. "If thy hand offend thee, cut it off" means just that. Whatever it is that enables you to continue to sin, stop enabling it by using it for a crutch. Free yourself of crutches like, "I'm only human," and "I can't help it, it's just my nature," and "Hey, nobody's perfect."
So many people legitimize anger by falling back on the excuse that "Even Jesus got angry, therefore it is good to get angry." Yes, and Jesus walked everywhere, does that mean that cars are evil? Yes, Jesus was also human as well as Spirit. As human, he also became angry, frustrated, impatient. But Jesus did not legitimize a weakness by using a crutch "Hey, that's just my human nature coming through." Jesus made the call to a higher standard of behavior, a higher standard of commitment, and a higher standard of love, for himself and for everyone he taught.
Jesus was angered at the hypocrisies, the misuse, the abuse of scripture, of holy places, and of power. He was not quick to anger and his neighbors weaknesses and humanity. He was very patient with those who were in no position to know better. He angered at those who DID know better, but misused and abused their authority. He became angry with Peter because just moments after Peter proclaimed that the Key to the Kingdom was a belief the Jesus was the son of God, Peter himself openly displayed doubt of Jesus' divine abilities. It was Peter's hypocrisy, is SAYING the right thing, but not BELIEVING it himself, that provoked Jesus' anger.
Did Jesus' anger derive from being "only human?" No. His anger was provoked by those who claimed to be motivated by a higher standard, but in fact, were even more base than those they condemned. It was from this higher standard that Jesus was angered, not from a weakness. Yet, today, many who are too weak to struggle with these higher standards, that, from their weakness, give in to it, and even with a smile, proclaim "Well, I'm only human." Those words should NEVER come from the lips of a Christian. You are NOT only human. As a Christian, you have within your human flesh, the SPIRIT, and it is in ignoring the guidance and strength found in the SPIRIT, that one falls back on his humanness as the determiner for his behavior. We are all weak, and we all at times DO forget our higher natures, and do things that are so typically human. We become greedy, selfish, spiteful, unforgiving. But as Christians, we MUST understand and believe that we can rise above our human natures and tendencies, into a standard of behavior that reflects our faith and trust in God.
To condone our human weaknesses is to legitimize them. We must be ever aware of our human weaknesses and failings, and strive all the more next time, to foresee the direction our weakness is taking us, and stop it at once. If we lack the strength to stop it, we must seek the help of the Spirit within us. If we are still unable to grab hold of that strength within us to fight the temptation, we must go to our brother and asks his help. And together, we must pray, and even more. We must confront our weakness. We must not be afraid to listen to the frank condemnation of our weakness. We must recommit our daily lives to the struggle to replace our urge to do harm with an urge to fight our weakness. We must, with God's help and the help of our brothers, turn our eyes away from temptation if we lack the strength to resist it. In time we will have such strength, but in the meantime we have to love of God and our brothers to guide us.
Yes, we are human, but we are not ONLY human. We are all brothers in Christ, Christians. And because we are Christians, we do not look for excuses for our weaknesses, we look for strength to overcome them. That strength comes from God, and resides in us as the leaven resides in the dough, or the promise resides in the seed. God's Holy Spirit resides in all those who have faith. To ignore that Spirit in our times of trials and temptation, is to stumble in the darkness because we are too proud to admit that we need light when we cannot see. It is not our will be done, for our will is laden with our humanness. But it is God's will that we pray should be done, because God is not human, and only that which is above human weakness, can lift us above our own human weakness.