You're Only Human by Kelly M. Kapic

Author:Kelly M. Kapic [Kapic, Kelly M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Theology, Christianity, Christian Life, Christian Living;Theological anthropology—Christianity;Image of God;Christian life;The Finite;REL012120;REL067020
ISBN: 9781493435258
Google: kLY5EAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Brazos Press
Published: 2022-01-17T23:00:00+00:00

God’s time is created, gifted, slow, generous, gentle, and designed to enhance the purposes of love.

John Swinton, Becoming Friends of Time

Money, power, sex, brilliance, or influence won’t give our lives genuine meaning and purpose. Only when we honestly believe this, only when we return to our true center, can we find the resources to resist the tyranny of being driven by clock time and endless distractions and vain attempts to give our lives meaning. So what is the final word? What is the way of wisdom, the way to our true center? Ecclesiastes closes with these words, words that at first may seem surprisingly sober: “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (12:13–14 NRSV; cf. 8:10–13). Isn’t that talk about judgment just the pessimism of someone who has given up? Well, it depends. One can read it very differently. Qoheleth (“Preacher”—the speaker in Ecclesiastes) seems to have thought this actually to be a very positive assessment and hope, because to live in the fear of God is to live in the real world. It takes realistic stock of human finitude, need, and temptation, and it puts them into the context of God’s love and provision for us. It recognizes the world we actually live in, waking us up from a dream. It liberates us to live coram Deo, happily animated by the fear of the Lord, which enables us to love his creation without becoming anxious about it.

That is the path of life and wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the recognition of God’s presence, holiness, wisdom, and love. The fear of the Lord is a way of life, living in awareness of the sovereign King who is ever present, ever wise, ever concerned. The fear of the Lord allows us to face stress and the uncertainties of life with confidence, not because everything will turn out as we wanted, but because it puts everything in perspective. In the fear of the Lord we now see everything in light of God, rather than trying to make space for God within everything.

But to maintain this vision, this fear of the Lord, (1) we need to have a vision for how God works in our lives over time, (2) we need to more fully appreciate our interdependence as the corporate church, and (3) we need a set of practices or habits to help us live in light of God’s presence and action. These are the topics for our final three chapters of the book.

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