On being human

by Pastor Tom

“Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing. He took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross.” Philippians 2:5-8

Being a human can get complicated. There are a lot of different approaches. Sometimes, we get cues from the human beings we grow up around and decide to go about being human in the same way. At other times, we reject the notions of being human exhibited by our peers, and we strike out on our own with some kind of new thing.

Most of the time, we discover that people who have chosen a particular approach to being human hang out in little groups of like-minded humans. They all look pretty much alike, talk alike, and tend to engage in the same kinds of activities. Upwardly mobile type humans dress for success, carry cell phones and blackberries, drive BMW’s and talk about the stock market. Biker type humans dress up in leather costumes, hook a chain to their wallets, ride Harleys, and somehow manage to develop huge pot-bellies. Redneck type humans listen to country music, drive pick-up trucks with big tires, pull out a few teeth and marry their cousin. Well, you get the picture. There are a lot of ways to be human.

It’s interesting to me that the one who made humans in the first place, namely God, became a human being himself. As a human, like us, he hung with his peers, but he also ran around with those considered to be less desirable. Like most of us, he had a trade and family and friends, but he was able to step away from those things when a higher calling came along. And, unlike us, he was able to do it all without sin. That made him very unique, and allowed him to become the one person who could save the rest of us.

His sacrificial death gave us new life. And, because of his experience in the human creation department, the way he lived was most certainly a pretty good model for us to live by. He had the inside on just how humans work best, and in some ways his approach was considerably different than ours.

For us, the most important part of being human is to look out for number one. We worry about our rights and how we feel and what we’re going to get. We focus and concentrate on our own problems. We get consumed with self. Oh, we don’t think we do, but we do.

Jesus, on the other hand, had no thought for himself. He surrendered all his godly rights and privileges. He saw his purpose as one of servant hood. He was humble, too. I really think Jesus knew how to do it. He knew how to be a happy, successful human. He knew that the self route is really a rut. He knew that self is just another word for prison. He knew that humans were never designed to be in self-imposed chains. He was free. And I believe Jesus had a great time being a human.