An Excuse or an Aspiration?

What does it really mean to be human? Sometimes people use it to say they want their kids to be good, “I want to raise good humans.” Other times people use it as an excuse for being bad after they’ve done something hurtful or immoral, “Well, I’m just human.”

Human: A blanket excuse for bad behavior

Is “human” an excuse and a blanket explanation for evil in the world? It’s been echoed after kids cheat on tests and people cheat on their spouses, “Well, they’re only human.” It’s been a humble realization that we all have the potential for evil, “If they did that what is to say I couldn’t do the same thing- after all, I’m human, too.”

Human: something to aspire to and honor

Is human something to aspire to? “Those kids are extraordinary humans.”

Is human something to avoid degrading? With the way Russian soldiers have acted toward Ukrainian civilians, I hear many wondering at how the soldiers, “aren’t even being human,” or “aren’t even behaving like human beings.” And then hearing the inner workings of the military, “The soldiers themselves aren’t even being treated like human beings.”

So, is “human” something honorable to be honored and not degraded, or is it a blanket excuse term for all the degradation of morality we see exemplified by humans? We use it as both.

Human: God’s heart

He always sees each person as He created them to be. Their value, their potential, their unique reflection of His glory remains true. Whether they choose to know Him and let Him lift them up into all He created them to be- or not. He set their value by the cross- paying His almighty, infinite, spotless blood for them.

Set Value

Value is set by what someone is willing to pay for something. In October 29, 2020, this coin set a record for the most valuable ancient coin when 4.188 million dollars (£3,240,000) was paid for it. Before the auction, it was estimated to be worth about $650,000. In the end, the buyers competing knew the uniqueness of the coin (one of three like it ever made), and they paid a much higher price than the estimate.

Imagine if you were an archeologist and found one of these priceless coins. It would likely be covered in something filthy- dirt, fecal matter, or even the remains of decayed things or people that were once alive. It could have been used to purchase some pretty aweful things. But you wouldn’t have said- “Well, this one is just too dirty and has been used to do too many awful things. I’ll just bury it back in the ground.”

Underestimating Our Value

The way we throw around the word “human,” I believe we are often underestimating our value. Those estimating the value of the coin thought it was valuable but grossly underestimated that value. Don’t we often do that? We think we are valuable, but grossly underestimate that. And even if we were once valuable, we sometimes feel that the choices we have made, the things others have done to us, or the general filth we’ve been subjected to or subjected ourselves to in our lives has unalterably taken away our value. The One who designed us and knows us best believes no such falsehoods.

The Creator of the universe, who designed the stars that sing and the rocks that cry out with musical tones and each snowflake with a pattern unique to itself, designed each human being to be a unique, glorious reflection of Himself on the earth- one of such infinite worth that He set our value for all time. He is Love. As Love, He determined that humans are worth what He paid- no matter what lesser value they might feel or believe they have.

Humans: the image of God

In the very least, we reflect Jesus, who was prophet, priest, and king.

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV

We are royal. We are a priesthood. We declare Him. Yes, we were once dirty like an ancient coin, by our choice to reject God and the ways of His Kingdom. We once had not received mercy. But if we have- He has cleaned us with a cleaning He purchased with His own blood. He brought us into His kingdom as sons and daughters in His family. Royal priestly sons and daughters knowing, delighting in, and declaring Him.

From Genesis 1:26-27 and Psalm 8: 5-8 we see that God created humans in His image. Each of us, more unique than a snowflake, is a unique reflection of Him on the earth to rule over His creation with His heart, doing only what He would do to manage the vast abundance of inanimate created things and the abundant life that dwells on the earth. In theologian J. Richard Middleton’s book The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 exploring what Genesis 1 means when it says we are created in God’s image, Middleton concludes by saying,

In the end, the liberating character of the “imago Dei” is grounded in the nature of God, who calls the world into being as an act of generosity. This means ethat we cannot artificially separate our vision of God’s redemptive love from an understanding of God’s creative power. A careful reading of Genesis 1:1-2:3 thus converges on John 3:16. In both creation and redemption, “God so loved the world that he gave…””

The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 by J Richard Middleton page 297

What Does this Practically Mean?

When I look at you, and you look at me, we often see the filth. When I look at me and you look at you, we often underestimate our own value based on the life experiences we have had and choices we have made. Imagine how we could love each other so much more fully if we just asked our Father, the Creator to show us-

• How do you see me?
• When You look at me, who did you create me to be?
• When you look at my mother, father, sister, brother, cousin, friend, boss, colleague, person who cut me off in traffic, person who slandered me…who do You see?
• Who did you create him/her to be?

Imagine if we could enter eternity knowing we saw each other through His eyes and loved each other with all our hearts while we walked this earth.

Then we could know what “human” really means.

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