So we all make mistakes, right? We all do stuff we shouldn’t and mess up sometimes. We also all go through uncomfortable feelings. Most of us have been lonely or not felt good enough at some point in our lives.

All these things are normal, they make us human. But it would be real good if we could just avoid these things. If we could just stop making mistakes and feel better about ourselves we would be happier. If we could just stop being human.

Yet despite this, being human isn’t a bad thing. When God looked down at the earth and decided He wanted to rescue it He sent His son, Jesus, down to become … human! God clearly understood that if He wanted a relationship with humanity He needed to embrace it.

In the same way, if we want to have better relationships with God and those around us, or just be happier in our own skin, we need to embrace the things that make us human, just like Jesus did. We see a brilliant example of this in John 4.

The woman at the well

Jesus and His disciples were travelling from a place called Judea to a place called Galilee. Between these two place was an area called Samaria. Now, Jesus’ people, the Jews, hated the Samaritans. So much so, that if anyone was travelling from Judea to Galilee they would literally add days to their journey by going around Samaria, just so they wouldn’t have to deal with any Samaritans.

Yet Jesus wasn’t too fussed, so He and His disciples decided to go through Samaria. On their journey, they came close to a nearby town and the disciples decided to go and get something to eat, leaving Jesus to rest at the side of a well. While they were gone a Samaritan woman came to get water from the well and Jesus started chatting with her.

At first, she was a bit shocked because Jews and Samaritans don’t mix. But He began to share the gospel with her and she got interested. Then out of nowhere, Jesus points out that this woman has been married five times and the guys she’s currently with isn’t her husband.

This was something that at the time would have been deeply embarrassing and shameful for this woman. People would have gossiped about her and avoided her. Because this was a sore topic for her she tries to change their conversation. But Jesus explained that if the wanted to have a relationship with Him and God she needed to be real and honest about where she’s at.

Cool story, what’s it got to do with me?

We often have friendships with people, or look to have a relationship with God, and pretend to be something we’re not. Or we’ll hide bits about ourselves that we don’t want people to know about. The problem is those people and God end up connecting to the image that we’ve made for ourselves and never really connect with us.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s shame and guilt over something you’ve done or the fact that you’re hurt and struggling. Maybe you’re even having doubts about your faith and life. These things are all okay, they’re part of being human. But if you want to begin to work past them you need to accept that they’re there and let yourself be human.

Then you can begin to deal with them and let people into your life. Jesus can handle your pain, guilt and doubts. If He couldn’t then He wouldn’t be a very good saviour. And the people who truly care about you can deal with them as well. So don’t be afraid to be human, because that’s who you are.