Life Lesson

John 13:3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.

I am not going to be my best self. I am going to fall short. I am going to disappoint other people and myself. I am human.

These might sound like depressing statements, but they are just the opposite. They are statements of reality, statements that reflect the way things actually are, not some imagined life that never could exist. I am human.

Even Jesus, the great teacher, failed with one of his pupils. How can I expect to be 100%? I can only be who I am now, and strive to stay as close to the LORD as possible. I can say “No” to my selfish desires, but realize that sometimes my selfish desires will be the order of the moment, or perhaps even the day. I am human.

I look back over my years of “work” and from a human perspective I don’t see as much impact as I had intended when I was in my twenties looking forward. But I can see impact. I can see lives changed for the eternal better. I see some lives turned around and thriving. I am human.

That is the upside of being human. We were created with creativity and imagination that reflects the creativity and imagination of the Creator of the Universe. We can accomplish some amazing things. There is an upside to being human. We can sometimes do a good that last much longer than our short life. I am human.

Jesus knew reality. He knew His place in that moment. He didn’t have the need to make a splash in the world. He was enough just as He was. He was able, as the God of the Universe, to put on a servants towel and wash the feet of his students. He could take on the job at the bottom of the employment scale and not lose who He was.

We can never make those statements. We start with a sinful deficit. But that doesn’t mean we must obey that deficit. We can choose to be different. We can choose to be in tune with the will of God for us in this moment. We too can choose to serve others without losing the dignity of the image of God imprinted on our being.

I am human.