i’m only human after all
Thursday 5.28.26 - Psalm 8 (Trinity Sunday A)
Psalm 8 says being human is not an apology.
It is a calling to become fully alive in the way of Jesus.
TL;DR: We usually say “I’m only human” after we mess up, as if being human mostly means being flawed. Psalm 8 tells a better story. We are small, seen, crowned, and entrusted by God. In Jesus, the True Human, we see what the Spirit is forming us to become.
when human means flawed
“I’m only human.”
We usually say it after we mess up.
We forgot something important.
We snapped at someone.
We dropped the ball.
We could not keep up.
And then we say it, half-confession and half-excuse:
“I’m only human.”
I get it. I have said it too.
Listen to what is hiding inside that sentence.
Most of the time, when we say “human,” we mean flawed. Frail. Bound to fail.
The kind of creature who eventually has to say, “What did you expect from me?”
There is truth in that. We do fail. We do wound each other. We do get tired, afraid, defensive, and selfish.
What if that is not the whole story?
What if “human” does not mean mostly broken?
What if human means made for glory and care?
the story many of us inherited
The story I inherited often treated humanity as the problem.
Humans are sinful.
Humans are selfish.
Humans are fragile.
Humans ruin things.
As in the lyrics in “Human” by Rag’n’Bone Man:
I'm only human
I make mistakes
I'm only human
That's all it takes
To put the blame on me
Don't put the blame on me
Again, I want to be careful. Sin is real. Pride is real. Human beings can do terrible things when we forget our limits.
When that becomes the main story, something gets twisted.
We start to think the goal of faith is to escape our humanity instead of having it healed. Bodies become obstacles. Fragility becomes failure. Ordinary limits become spiritual defects.
And sometimes we call that humility. It is not.
Shame is not humility.
Self-hatred is not holiness.
Thinking badly of yourself is not the same thing as worship.
The world gives us another bad story too.
If religion sometimes says, “You are nothing,” our culture often says, “Then become everything.”
Build your brand. Prove your worth. Pursue success. Be an influencer.
So we bounce between two exhausting lies:
I am nothing.
or
I have to become everything.
Psalm 8 gives us another way to be human.
what are humans?
The psalmist looks at the moon and stars and asks:
“What are human beings that you are mindful of them?”
That question feels different when you are tired.
What are humans?
What are we when our bodies slow down?
What are we when we cannot produce like we used to?
What are we when we are not impressive?
What are we when the old stories start whispering that we do not matter?
Psalm 8 refuses to let us become conceited.
Psalm 8 also refuses to crush us.
The psalm says God is mindful of us.
God cares for us.
God crowns us with glory and honor.
That is a strange answer.
We are small, and we are seen.
We are fragile, and we are crowned.
crowned for care
Psalm 8 says human beings are given a place in creation. Sheep and oxen. Beasts of the field. Birds of the air. Fish of the sea. The works of God’s hands.
That language can get dangerous when we forget what kind of God we are talking about.
Dominion was never permission to use what God loves. If dominion becomes domination, we have lost the plot.
The crown Psalm 8 gives us is not for ego. It is for care.
We are honored so we can tend.
We are given power so we can protect.
We are placed among creatures, not above love.
That matters in a world that still treats bodies, land, animals, workers, children, and vulnerable people as disposable.
Psalm 8 will not let us call that faithfulness.
jesus, the true human
Christians cannot read Psalm 8 without hearing Jesus.
Hebrews picks up this psalm and sees Jesus as the truly human one.
The one made low.
The one who enters suffering.
The one crowned with glory and honor.
Jesus does not show us humanity by escaping the body. He enters it. He takes on a body. He gets tired. He weeps.
Jesus touches wounds.
He welcomes children.
He refuses domination.
He shows us that glory does not have to look like control.
In Jesus, humanity is healed, not erased.
The question “what are human beings?” finds its clearest answer in him.
We are creatures God remembers.
We are wounds God tends.
We are dust God crowns.
And as we follow Jesus, the Spirit does not make us less human.
The Spirit makes us more fully human.
More alive.
More whole.
More able to love.
More able to become what we were created to be.
the dignity of being held
Maybe Psalm 8 is giving us the kind of humility we actually need, the kind that tells the truth.
We are not God.
We are not garbage.
We are beloved creatures.
We are held by the God whose name is majestic in all the earth.
And that means we can stop trying to prove we matter.
We can stop pretending we do not.
We can receive the dignity God gives and use it for care.
We can wonder without vanishing.
We can serve without pretending we are nothing.
So maybe “I’m only human” does not have to be an apology for existing.
Maybe it can become a prayer.
Make me human, God.
Fully alive.
Fully loved.
Fully given to the way of Jesus.
Amen
reflect
When do you use “I’m only human” as an excuse, apology, or confession?
What story did you inherit about what it means to be human?
Where might the Spirit be making you more fully human in the way of Jesus?
“We start to think the goal of faith is to escape our humanity rather than having it healed.” That statement (this whole post) has been enlightening.
Thank you for putting into words what has been a struggle for me all my life.
I appreciate the way you point to Jesus, expanding my understanding of him and opening my being to the Spirit’s work in me.
I’m grateful for your gift of words and how God is working through them to heal me!
God cares about and for us. And we are called to care for his creation. I wish word like dominion had not been chosen in the translation of this Psalm and in other places within the Bible. It gave us the wrong idea.