I'm No Saint

To excuse their less than righteous behavior, many offer what they feel to be an unarguable and acceptable reasoning, "I'm no saint."  That line is usually followed by "but," which precedes some kind of qualifier like, "I'm as good as the next guy" or "I'm not so bad."

The notion being advanced is that following God's will is so difficult to understand and/or follow that only a special kind of human, "saint," could possibly follow it.  The rest of us, weak-minded and/or weak-willed sort, will just have to be satisfied with our equally poor life choices. 

Really?  Is God's will that difficult to discern or accomplish that we should just give up and give in to the mediocre spirituality that so many have come to accept or worse, accept our base desires as directive?  Really?

Listen to Moses as he challenged that thinking in the ancient Israelites:  "What I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach" (Deut 30:11).  And listen to Jesus' call: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me....For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matt 11:28-30).

Understanding and following God's will is not too difficult for He has provided us the Spirit to direct and deliver us: "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it" (1 Cor 10:13).

Yes, we will stumble and choose poorly at times, but we can choose better and our spiritual life can increase daily by His power within.

Jus' Sayn.