Or, if you prefer modern pop stars over dead theologians, there was also Pink, who sang words that should be a daily refrain for everyone who is even the slightest bit self-aware:
I’m a hazard to myself.
Don’t let me get me.
Pink, you are onto something. You are in the company of the Puritans and King David with a lyric like that.
We must never for get that what God said to Cain, God also says to us:
Sin is crouching at your door, and you must master it.
Master the sin, God says, lest the sin gain mastery over you. Crush the sin, God says, lest the sin end up crushing you.
For every sin we commit is not just a sin against God; it is also a sin against ourselves.
It is not only a sin against the law of God; it is also a sin against the love of God.
And it is the love of God, and only the love of God, that is our resource for survival and flourishing.
So then, friends, let those among us who think we stand take heed, lest we fall. May God have mercy on the Abraham, Rahab, Peter, Barnabas, King David, Cain, Hitler and Pink in us all.
And, for the love of God, don’t let me get me.
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.
