008 – Almost Daily Devotional – Other People Exist

(Updated Show Notes -May 2025)

Episode 008 – Other People Exist

Originally recorded: July 17, 2006

Part of the Almost Daily Devotional series

This episode centers on a simple phrase that rocked me when I first heard it from Donald Miller at a conference in 2005:

“Other people exist.”

At first, it made me laugh.

But then… it made me see.

In this devotional, I share:

• Why this truth—though obvious—was one I had been blind to
• The dangers of seeing yourself as the main character in every story
• How evangelism often dehumanizes those we claim to love
• A vulnerable confession about my tendency to only engage when my interests are met
• A call to see others as sacred—not just as projects or prizes

I also reflect on Philippians 2 and what it really means to consider others “better than yourself”—not in shame, but in radical love.

This was one of the most foundational episodes I recorded in those early years.

And it still speaks.

✨ What I Believed Then

I believed we had made evangelism more important than empathy.

I believed Christians were often trained to care only when they could convert.

I believed I had spent far too long seeing people through the lens of my preferences, my interests, my priorities.

And I believed that needed to change—not just in others, but in me.

🌱 What I Believe Now

I no longer believe that love needs to be justified with an outcome.

I don’t love people so they’ll change.

I love people because they exist. Because they are whole. Because they carry the Divine.

I don’t try to be the hero of anyone’s story.

I try to be the extra—the witness.

And I trust that presence, not performance, is the most powerful ministry I can offer.

I now live what I once only glimpsed:

That loving someone without agenda is the clearest expression of Christ consciousness.

🔥 Why I’m Leaving This Episode in the Feed

Because this is the moment the veil began to tear.

Because this is when I started to realize that love doesn’t need a sermon…

It just needs to stay.

Because this is one of the most important truths I’ve ever been handed:

Other people exist.

And they’re not here to serve your story.

You are here to witness theirs.

Cliff