Our Daily Bread: Called to ServeSampel

Being Human

Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tender hearted, and keep a humble attitude. —1 Peter 3:8

When asked to define his role in a community that was sometimes uncooperative with law enforcement, a sheriff didn’t flash his badge or respond with the rank of his office. Rather he offered, “We are human beings who work with human beings in crisis.”

His humility—his stated equality with his fellow human beings—reminds me of Peter’s words when writing to first-century Christians suffering under Roman persecution. Peter directs: “All of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters” (1 Peter 3:8). Perhaps Peter was saying that the best response to humans in crisis is to be human, to be aware that we are all the same. After all, isn’t that what God Himself did when He sent His Son—became human in order to help us? (see Philippians 2:7).

Gazing only at the core of our fallen hearts, it’s tempting for us to disdain our human status. But what if we consider our humanness to be part of our contribution to our world? Jesus teaches us how to live fully human, as public servants recognizing we are all the same. “Human” is how God made us, created in His image and redeemed by His unconditional love. 

Today we’re sure to encounter folks in various struggles. Imagine the difference we might make when we respond humbly—as fellow humans who work together with other humans in crisis.

Father, help us to be humble as we respond to one another, human being to human being.

Elisa Morgan

Humility is the result of knowing God and knowing yourself.