Real People

Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:23-28 ESV).

What does it mean to be "real people”? It means a lot of things, and all of us can think of some of them. Here are a few that I thought of as I wrote this little devotional.

1. First, real people are people who are comfortable with their own truth. They love their own uniqueness. They do their own things, with no need to apologize for being what they are. Yet they are always becoming more than they are.

2. Second, real people stand just as tall as they ought to be, no more or no less, neither walking on tiptoe nor hanging their heads. They ask only to be taken for exactly what they are. Nor do they make other people feel that they are expected to be ten feet tall in a world where all are stunted by their own fears.

3. Third, real people have their daydreams, like all normal strivers. But they don't wallow in them. They accept their limitations and are content with achievement goals. They pick their goals with some understanding of the talent at hand. Escapism is not a moderate diversion in their way of life. Flight from effort or from involvement with others is not a routine survival tactic for real people.

4. Fourth, real people are “hurtable,” at least a little. They care enough for other people's love to feel the hurt of being ignored, misunderstood or rejected. And their own experience of hurt makes them sensitive to other people's pain.

5. Fifth, real people aren't hard to talk to. They invite communication because somehow or other, they make everybody feel their kinship with the human heart. Wherever you are, in loneliness, bitterness, shyness, or fright, they have a way of making you feel they have been there ahead of you. Consequently, they care.

6. Sixth, real people are like a pair of protective hands over the shoulders of a child. They are quick with laughter; they are not ashamed of tears; they are comfortable to be with because they let you know who they are.

How real are you? Make it your goal today to begin being “real people!”