Volumes have been written on the human condition.  Theatrical presentations galore. The tragic hero breaks our hearts- the anti-hero confounds our sensibilities.  We all identify with what we don’t want to be like. It is the state of humanity, and it is tragic. This common thread among the living is the catalyst behind songs of love-lost and missed opportunities.

Ever notice when you watch television the mixed feelings of revulsion and sympathy for the wrongdoers?  It’s because we all identify alternately with virtue and vice. The natural state of mankind is one in which functioning falls short of fantasy.  We have ideals that we never seem to reach. Though we know they’re wrong, we understand villains.

The human condition is the sinful condition.  Job said we are born to trouble. Moses said our days are brief and angst-filled.  We should not borrow trouble because each day has a plate-full. Those words came from Jesus Himself.  Strivings need not be moral or ethical to be difficult. Paul testified to fightings without and fears within.

We were not meant to be what we have become.  For that matter, the world was not created in its present state.  God did not want fallen people in a fallen world, but He would not limit free will.  Because of this, paradise was lost. In the losing went all full virtue. Every work is less than and every thought tainted.  Paul said, when he tried to do well, evil was present.

James said, “We all stumble in many ways.”  Beyond this, he intoned that no one had ever not said the wrong thing.  For believers, two things follow naturally. First, we should always be conscious of our own failings.  They are facts. Second, what is true of us it true of others. They are going to let us down. There’s no exception to the rule.

Despair would be complete were it not for the Divine.  We can come to Jesus when we are hurt and when we have hurt.  There is benevolence for both times of need. God did not mean for you to live the way you do, but He can help you rise higher than you otherwise would.  There is always a gap between actions and oughts, but it is found and filled by grace.

Sterl