He's One of Us...

John McCain passed away last week.  Many people honored him as an American hero.  Others just didn't like him.  But to me, he was a fellow Naval Academy graduate.  He was one of us.  

Senator McCain was buried next to Charles Larson at the Academy cemetery.  During my final year at Navy, Admiral Larson was the Academy Superintendent.

And while at the Academy, I didn't know  "The Supe"and rarely saw him.

But, at our graduation practice the day before graduation, Admiral Larson was the only person present, besides my graduating class.  And he directed the practice!  I was stunned.

And even more surprising, Admiral Larson pretended and played the parts of the various graduation speakers.  I laughed and thought, "He's one of us.  He knows what it's like to be a Naval Academy midshipman."  And that thought has stuck with me.

He's one of us...

Each of us is created by God, just like Adam was created by God.  And through Adam, we all know sin and are sinners.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.  Romans 5:12

And in the midst of sin, in this fallen world, and among sinners, Jesus became one of us.

...though he [Jesus] was in the form of God, [He] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. Philippians 2:6–7

He's one of us.  And Jesus knows what it's like to play, to laugh, to love...to suffer, to grieve, to forgive, and to die.

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death.  Hebrews 2:14

Each of us is a sinner like Adam.  But each of us, no matter our station in life, is also one for whom Christ died.  

The Bible says that Jesus knew what was in man's heart.  He knew man's sin.  And, being one of us and knowing our hearts, He still loved us and died for us.

And in my day-to-day life, I forget that.  

I forget that each of us is a person for whom Christ died, especially when things don't "go right" or when I'm sinned against.  My prayer is to remember to look at other people as "one of us" as people for whom Jesus loved and died, and to share His love with them. 

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.  Ephesians 4:32