A Thousand Apologies

I came across a Facebook post from a friend of mine last week, which brought back memories of a popular comedy from the 1970's. For those who followed the comedy, you'd know by the title of this post that I'm referring to the show Mind Your Language, a British sitcom about a group of adults from various parts of the world who come together in London to learn how speak English. 

Although from the time of the previous century, this show is loved by many even till this day. I have to admit, I watched quite a bit of this show last week after coming across that Facebook post. In fact, in this day and age, many English teachers use this show to aid them in helping their students to improve their command of the English language (and this is how I was introduced to this show, as my Form Teacher showed this to us during our English lessons). 

One of the catchphrases often heard in this show from one of the characters is the phrase "A Thousand Apologies". For those who follow the show, we'd know that this phrase usually comes about whenever a particular student from the class was reprimanded by the teacher for making a mistake. This term "A Thousand Apologies" became the catchphrase of that particular character. 

In my conversations with people, including my friends from Secondary School who used to watch this show with me during our time in school, I've noticed that this phrase, "A Thousand Apologies", still cracks people up even till this day. The audience during the time of the 1970's and 1980's never got tired of hearing that phrase, or seeing the silly mistakes made by that particular character in the sitcom. This catchphrase became so popular that today, in the year 2021, there are memes that have sprung out it. Some of us even use this phrase in our conversations with our friends, as a substitute to other terms such as "Paiseh" or "Xia Suay" (in Singlish of course). 

I couldn't help but wonder, as this topic popped up during my prayer time last week, if our God would ever get tired of hearing this phrase. After all, our God, in his pursuit of the human race since the beginning of time, humbled himself to become a human being, just like us. Would God ever grow tired of hearing the phrase "A Thousand Apologies" come out of our mouths each time we sin? 

For many of us, the reality is that we feel as though we've already given God a thousand apologies. Many of us (myself included) struggle with habitual sins and we often wonder what is the point of going to the confessional to apologise to God if we are going to commit the same sins again anyway. And while this is understandable (as I have been here before), I wonder if we really think that our God grows tired of forgiving us and loving us, especially after he gave us the greatest act of sacrificial love on the cross. Would God really be sick and tired of hearing a thousand apologies from his sons and daughters? 

Sin is a condition of the heart. It isn't just about committing acts or deeds that go against the values of the kingdom of God, but it is a disposition in which our heart prefers the ways of this passing world to the ways of the Gospel. Sin will always be with us, and it will continue to taunt us until we are fully purified, and can love God with our entire beings. More often than not, it is a wound that needs to constantly be treated. 

Personally, I think it's far better to keep on apologising for a sin that we struggle with, than to remain silent and keep on sinning. More often than not, although we may not realise this, but what we do has it's effect on others. Our sins hurt God, and they hurt others. And personally, I think that not saying anything would do far more damage to our relationship with God and with others who we may hurt, than apologising for the same mistake. While I'm certainly not suggesting that we should succumb to our habitual sins, there's a difference between that and trusting in his loving mercy, which allows us to keep picking ourselves up and to keep on trying each time we fail. 

My dear reader, our loving God never gets tired of hearing us apologise. Therefore, continue to strive towards living the Gospel in your daily life, and never give up on visiting the confessional when there's a need to apologise to God, even if you feel like it's been a thousand apologies.