As a follower of Jesus, the greatest resource you have is people. People are important. You are in the people business. Regardless of who a person is or what that person has done, regardless of whether a person agrees with you or even likes you, regardless of whether the person lives the life you want them to live, each person is loved by God.

Over my years of ministry, as I have experienced God’s love for me, I have tried to love others the way God has loved me. As I have grown deeper in my relationship with Jesus, I have learned that each person is a person God has given to me to love. A lot of words to say, People are important.

People Are the Greatest Resource in Ministry

When I was 10 years old, the musical “Funny Girl,” was on Broadway. One of the famous songs from that musical has shaped my life for over 60 years. I first heard it on the radio and television. I sang it in junior high and high school choruses. I have seen the movie several times. Even today, I am taken back to the times of my childhood when I hear the song, “People.”

People who need people,

Are the luckiest people in the world.

We’re children, needing other children.

And yet letting a grown-up pride

Hide all the need inside.

Acting more like children than children

A feeling deep in your soul

Says you were half now you’re whole.

No more hunger and thirst.

First be a person who needs people

People who need people

Are the luckiest people in the world. 

The musical is about a woman who has discovered that the luckiest people are not those who have enjoyed fame and fortune, but rather those who find special relationships with others. She is disconnected with almost everyone around her, then she sings, “people who need people are the luckiest people.” The song suggests that you become one of the luckiest people “first” being “a person who needs people.” Another way of saying it is, people are important.

What ‘People Who Need People’ Teaches Us About Faith

Why have I taken so much time and space to say people are important? Well, it seems to me that we have begun to separate ourselves from one another. In our world today, especially in our churches, we have begun to align ourselves with people who think and act like we do. We have divided ourselves along theological lines as well as political, economic, and social lines.

Robert Putnam, in his book Bowling Alone, writes that sociologists distinguish between two kinds of connections: bonding and bridging. Bonding happens when people who perceive themselves to be similar develop deeper connections; but bridging activities involve people who have been separated. Bonding activities might involve people in the same ethnic group or economic states. Bridging connections, by definition, are “outward looking and encompass people across diverse social divides.”

Too often, we are more concerned about bonding with those who agree with our theology and religious values, which seem to separate people, rather than about bridging the differences.

As followers of Jesus, you and I are in the people business. People thrive and find fulfillment when they have meaningful connections with others. People require companionship, support, and interaction with other people to live fulfilling lives. Relationships play a significant role in the overall well-being, happiness, and fulfillment of all of us.

As difficult and inconvenient as it can be at times, loving others as God has loved us is who we are as followers of Jesus.

Reading Scripture Through the Lens of God’s Love

Which brings me to an important point in loving people. Please read carefully. From my perspective, one of the things that separates us the most is the Bible, our holy scripture. As followers of Jesus, our focus is on Jesus. He is the human touch of God’s love in the world. As followers of Jesus, we, too, are the human touch of God’s love.

To read the scripture without focusing on Jesus is how racism, sexism, and exclusion in the name of Jesus got started. To read the scripture focused upon Jesus, with Jesus as the filter, the love of God and love of neighbor become the standard of faith and living.

I know this will sound harsh, but the big difference is that when you use scripture as a weapon to justify prejudices and hate, you are not only excluding people, but you are not being who God created you to be. You are not loving others as God has loved you. You are not being the human touch of God’s love in the world.

Love Others Like Jesus

To read the scripture without the context of God’s love in Jesus, you get a distorted and misunderstood view of scripture. The religious leaders in Jesus’ day believed that their refusal to associate with people who did not live up to their religious standard was the highest proof of their devotion to God. 

They separated themselves from the unclean outcasts. The more spiritual one tried to be, the bigger the category of outcasts. People were excluded based on ethnicity (Gentiles), gender (women) , physical problems (lepers), and for practicing what were called “despised trades” like tax collectors or pigeon keepers. The outcasts were considered defiled or unclean, and to associate with them would defile the righteous. So, the bottom line, the good religious righteous believed that the essence of spiritual maturity lay in excluding people.

Following Jesus Means Embracing the Outcast

Jesus, God’s love in human form, embraced the outcasts. He did not condone sin, but he clarified where unfair labels had made people outcasts, and he offered hope to those who were separated from God and one another. He associated with those who were considered unclean and unacceptable. He embraced them. He spoke with them, touched them, ate with them, and loved them. Miroslav Volf, in Exclusion and Embrace, writes, “By embracing the outcast Jesus underscored the sinfulness of the persons and systems that cast them out.”

Jesus promised his followers the power to overcome exclusion when he said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” When you truly begin to follow Jesus, you find yourself becoming an embracer, overcoming differences.

How to Make People a Priority in Everyday Life

People are important. By the way you love and care for the weak as well as the strong, the strugglers as well as the achievers, will show, not only who you are as a follower of Jesus but, will show the world what it means to be a Jesus follower.

So, here is what you might do to overcome the separation and exclusion we are experiencing in our world today.

Take people seriously. 

Many people have no one to love them. Whether it is by their own behavior or belief, people have separated themselves from others. Regardless of their reasons for separation or disconnection, each person is a person who God loves. You, being a receiver of God’s love, are also a conduit and giver of God’s love. God wants to love people through you. Be who God has created you to be, and take people seriously so that God can love them through you.

Listen to people.

One of the most important ways to take people seriously is to listen to them. In fact, listening is one way to love them. One thing I have learned is many people just want to know that they have been heard. As time-consuming as it might seem, give time to listening. Whether you are interested or not, whether it makes sense or not, whether it is part of your agenda, loving others as you have been loved is who you are a follower of Jesus.

Be generous with people.

Most of us default to think the worst and we tend to make up what you do not know. Regardless of the situation or circumstance, give people the benefit of your doubt until you learn differently. Too often you react to people based on your assumptions or perceptions. Learn to respond out of the love you have experienced in and through Jesus. God did not create you to be the judge. God created you to be the witness. Be who God created you to be. Be generous with people so that God can love them through you.

Be kind, patient, and honest with people. 

Encourage them, support them, and assist them in becoming who God has created them to be. Model God’s love in the way you interact with others and work for their well-being. By the way you love and care for them, you will be a witness to who you are as a follower of Jesus, and you will be a conduit of God’s love.

Remember that people are more important than policies, positions, and politics. 

We all work within organizations and institutions that seek to love and serve people. But too often, we emphasize the things put in place to help us love and serve more than the people we are given to love and serve. To love others as you have been loved will mean you will learn to navigate the systems and policies that too often separate people, create anxiety, and cause harm. Keep in mind, what separates and causes harm often was created to bring people together and to work for their good. People are important. Learn to use the policies, positions, and politics as instruments of God’s love, to work for the ultimate good of others. Be who God created you to be, so God can love others through you.

Putting People Before Politics, Policies, and Positions

People are important, and God has given you the opportunity to make people a priority in your life. People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.

There is a story about three African elders visiting the West. The visitors were asked: “How can you tell when night ends and day begins?”

The first man responded: “When I can distinguish the olive trees from the fig trees, then I know that night is over, and day has begun.”

The second answered, “When I can see the forms of the animals across the Serengeti, I know that the darkness is leaving, and the light of day is arriving.”

The third visitor took an entirely different tack: When we can see a black woman and a white woman and call them both ‘sister,’ when we see a poor man and a rich man and call them both ‘brother,’ then the darkness of night has lifted, and the light of day has come.

A Reflection on Relationships and the Light of Love

People are important. Love the people around you. It is who you are as a follower of Jesus.

Take a moment to reflect upon the past several days.

• Give God thanks for the people you have encountered.
• How did you experience taking people seriously, listening, being generous, and placing people before policy, position, or politics?
• In what other ways did you put people first?
• In whom did you experience God’s love?
• With whom did you share God’s love?
• What will you do differently tomorrow?

Ask God to give you the faith to make people a priority in your life. People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.