Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.” vs. 5
Psalm 8:5-9
It may be that we have offered up, “Well, I’m only human,” as an excuse for one of our mistakes or errors of judgment. The psalmist would likely have countered, “What more do you want to be?” In his estimation being human was as good as it gets in the universe, just a notch lower than Divinity. And on our better days we’re likely to agree. There is much to be said for being a human being–we have the capacity to enjoy life in the world on a pretty high level. For the most part we have the wisdom, skills, talents, and imagination to accomplish some amazing and remarkable things. But at the same time we will have to admit that our record in caring for the earth has been pretty dismal. In exercising dominion over the animal kingdom we’ve managed the extinction of whole species, and the whole environment has been groaning in travail because of our management blunders. Some are even wondering if humans as a species can even survive in the face of rising temperatures–it could be that all who will be left will be the cockroaches and rats! It may be that we have time to get things in order–it would mean the wholesale adoption of new lifestyles and a simpler standard of living. If that happens this would be humanity’s glory, a time to celebrate the honor that the psalmist thought was due us.
Thought for the Day: What’s the best thing about being human?
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