As a pastor, like any of us, I need to keep my human nature in check. Yes, God’s grace, His forgiveness, and His guiding presence of the Holy Spirit are all definitely real, and felt, but my human nature is also real. This is part of keeping in perspective who I am as a human, in light of who God is. The last time I cut my finger, yeah, it bled. The last time I looked in the mirror, yeah, the gray hairs were still showing up. And yeah, I get depressed, sad, angry, etc.                        
    Again, in my role as a pastor, it is very important for me to keep my human nature in check. People typically look to pastors with a higher expectation or standard in mind.
    Lately I’ve been noticing that I need to watch my tongue closely. James 3:3-5 of the Bible reads, “When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal around . . . Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body but it makes great boasts . . . With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.” No, I don’t have much of a personal problem with uncontrollable cursing or profanity as I'm angry or in conflict. But I do need to watch my tone and my use of words more carefully. 
    A few weeks ago, Vivian came to our Care Center to visit and to receive a small gas voucher for her vehicle. Vivian was doing good at a lot of things --- parenting as best she could, working full-time at the same job she’s had for over a year, being in a strong relationship with God. But she was making some poor financial decisions in the purchase of a vehicle that was even making it hard for her to buy food for her family and to pay her apartment rent. While I brought out that truth, I didn’t “sandwich” it with affirmation for the many good things she’s doing. She corrected me; I apologized; she left discouraged; I felt bad. Fortunately I was able to see Vivian two days later so I could offer apology again, some more affirmation, and appreciation for her willingness to be bold in correcting me. (They say it takes 10 statements of encouragement to override 1 statement of discouragement.) It wasn’t that I lacked compassion, but I expressed it in a condescending way.
    I need to watch myself in my role as a father, too. One morning I told my oldest daughter to clean out her dog’s pen after school. Later in the day, my wife called to say my daughter was almost in tears because she couldn’t quite get it all cleaned out as “it” was frozen to the ground (December in South Dakota), and she thought Dad would be mad. I felt bad that my tone of voice in the morning must have given her that impression.
    Ah, my humanity, not something to just excuse --- “well, I’m human too” --- but, for my own peace, for the peace and hope of others, and to God’s glory, to keep in check.