What Is Man?

It has been many centuries since the Psalmist asked this ever-recurring question: “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” Both before and since then, many have asked it over and over again. Why is the answer important? Why need we concern ourselves? Part of its importance is this: What a person thinks he is, will largely set the pattern of his life. What a person thinks he is may determine what he will or will not do. If he knows he is immortal, he may live one way; if he thinks he isn’t, he may do quite differently. If we know what man is, if we know his nature, we may then know what is of most value to him, and what his obligations are to others, and something of the kind of future there is, or can be, before him. “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” First of all, he is the child of an eternal Father, made in the image of his Maker, and is therefore the brother of all other men also. Furthermore, his Father meant him to be free – free to think, to choose, to decide for himself, so long as he doesn’t infringe upon the same freedom for others that he expects for himself. Furthermore, he is not a thing of chance. He is a member of an immortal race, a being whose life is not bounded by birth or death, whose identity is eternal, and whose peace and happiness and progress are everlastingly important. Indeed, man is a creature of such everlasting consequence that God Himself has said His work and His glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” — and why is the answer important? Because what man knows of his own nature will determine largely how he lives. A person will prepare for a short journey much differently than he would prepare for a journey that is everlastingly long. And when we know the nature of man, we shall have given ourselves reason for challenging bigotry, tyranny and untruth, all slavery and sin, all evil and oppression – everything, in fact, that does not lead to the freedom, happiness, peace, and the eternal progress of people, who as children of God have possibilities that are limitless and everlasting.