JR. Forasteros - October 8, 2017
Judas
We tend to end up in echo chambers, surrounded by people who look and think a lot like us. The danger of this is that we don’t learn how to be challenged. The spiritual consequence is that we end up missing God – imagining God in our own image rather than learning to let God challenge us. Judas illustrates the reason we need to learn to be vulnerable, to open ourselves to strange friendships.
From Series: "Empathy for the Devil"
We don't give the people we consider villains a second thought. They were born rotten, destined for evil from day one. But if we take another look at some of the most infamous villains of all time, we may find they're more human than we thought. We may see ourselves in their reflection. We might find we're walking the path of villainy - and once we see that, we can turn toward God's life!
More Messages From JR. Forasteros...
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Rag n Bone Man’s “I’m Only Human” tells a fascinating story of a broken relationship. Or rather, it implies that story, since to listen to the song is to feel as though we’re listening to one side of the end of a long, painful conversation.
Again and again, he insists that, whatever happened, “Don’t put your blame on me… I’m only human.”
I’m sorry I couldn’t solve your problems. I’m only human.
I’m sorry I couldn’t figure it out. I’m only human.
I’m sorry I couldn’t be honest. I’m only human.
I’m no Messiah. I’m only human.
The song expresses a sentiment we’re all well-acquainted with: we’re not God.
We can’t save the world – we can’t even save ourselves. So be careful not to put too much faith in me.
There’s some truth to that. We do often tend to put too much faith in other people, which can lead to a lot of heartache.
But that’s not what this song is about. This song is a person who has let someone else down. A person who doesn’t believe in himself. A person who says, “I’m only human.”
Rag n Bone man believes that to be human is to be a failure. To be human is to let other people down. To be human is to be limited, small, insignificant, unworthy of trust or faith.
When’s the last time you let someone down?
Maybe you didn’t return that phone call, or didn’t make it to their house. Maybe like me, you live far away from family and couldn’t make it back for a holiday. Or you failed to keep a promise.
We’ve all been where Rag n Bone man is – feeling the weight of our human limitations. We’ve all wanted to shrug and say, “Don’t put your blame on me! I’m only human!”
Friends, I want to offer us a word of encouragement today. To be human is to be finite, yes, but when we shrug our shoulders and say we’re “only human”, we’re lying about what it means to be human.
Today, we’re going to explore what it means to be human, and we’ll see that while to be human is to be limited, it is not to fail. We’ll see that to be human is a sacred calling, and that God wants us to live tall and proud to be human.
