I believe that affirming our potential is more important than condemning our brokenness.

Many churches I have attended put a very strong I would even say an overwhelming emphasis on our brokenness. Their creeds which are chanted every Sunday point out that we are nothing but poor miserable sinners and are capable of absolutely nothing good. Besides causing inferiority complexes in those to buy into that thought it is also does very little to attract those not familiar with the true words of Jesus and the positive things he wants us to accomplish while on this earth.

Most of the “poor miserable sinner” thoughts come from Saint Paul in his many epistles. It seems that Paul, like Martin Luther that came many years later, had pitifully low self esteem that would lead naturally to this syndrome. Jesus on the other hand had different words to tell us. He constantly was affirming our potential with such words as “through the Father you can do anything”.

So, I will say again we should spend much more time knowing the positive things we can do with Christ on our side rather than fixating on the sins that we commit. Yes, we all do commit sins every day and that makes God sad but failing to recognize our potential to love God and to love our neighbors as Jesus commanded makes God even sadder.