Tearfund Lent Devotional Day 30

You’re (just) a person

‘I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.’ (Romans 7:15, NIV)

You did something wrong. Welcome to the club. There are billions of us.

You’re not a bad person. You’re just a person. A person – like all of us –doing their best in a messy, fallen world.

You’re the product of your upbringing, your education, social norms, random circumstances, genetics, government policy, solar activity, tech companies spending billions of dollars a year manipulating your behaviour, what you read, what you watch, your friends, your colleagues, the weather, your culture, what you eat, your hormones, geopolitical turmoil, your blood sugar level, the vagaries of the human brain… and who knows what else.

You’re not a bad person. You’re just a person. And every day, God’s mercies are as fresh as the dew. Every day, you get to have another go. Every day, you can adjust your trajectory. Every day, you get the opportunity to love as we have been loved. As we are and always will be loved.

That doesn’t mean we excuse the awful. We aim high. We fight for justice. We build a better world. But we do it in all our glorious imperfection, understanding that everyone else is imperfect too.

Don’t redouble your efforts. Double down on grace.

God, thank you for loving me unconditionally. Help me to do the same. Thank you for loving others unconditionally. Help me to do the same. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Gideon Heugh

Gideon writes for Tearfund and is a poet and environmentalist