You’re Only Human
I don’t like limits. Speed limits, cost limits, time limits, physical limits. You name it my instinct is to push past it. For years this has been a hard truth for me to not only admit but to address. More recently (maybe as a result of turning 40) I have been working to understand AND appreciate my limits.
Notice what I said…not just understand but appreciate. I understand that I only have 24 hours in a day and only seven days each week. I understand that I can’t go without sleep for days on end. I understand that I cannot be in two places at one time. I understand that my mind isn’t as sharp as it once was and I can’t remember all the things.
I’ve understood most of that for a long time. I just haven’t learned to appreciate it. Until recently, when my counsellor challenged me to read Kelly Kapic’s work You’re Only Human. Kapic is a professor at Covenant College and has done extensive work in the doctrine of humanity.
Last Sunday, I shared an excerpt from his book and I wanted to take a little more time to share a few more excerpts along with recommending this incredible resource to our church. Below are some of key quotes that will hopefully give you a taste of what an incredible resource this work truly is.
“Finitude is an unavoidable aspect of our creaturely existence. We run into it constantly and in different ways. If we are paying attention, we can see it. It doesn’t take a car accident or an unexpected hospital visit for us to discover our limits and dependency. But are we listening? Do we recognize the signs? They’re all around us. Far too often our lives testify to the fact that we believe we really can and should do everything.” (6)
“Christians are familiar with the creation narrative and the Gospel story about Jesus. Unfortunately, it is far too common that we don’t connect these two pivotal parts of the Bible. Once we begin to connect them, we see how deeply they inform and explain one another. These ideas, that Jesus the Redeemer is also the Word of the creation; that the Word through whom all creation came into being has taken on human flesh and walked about us; that, from the beginning, God in Christ has always looked out for us, made a place for us, pursued and caught us; all these explosive ideas show that we cannot truly understand either Genesis 1 or John 1 if we separate them…the doctrine of the incarnation of God…includes the teaching that God puts a high value on the particular humanity and finitude of each of us.” (39)
“Christian humility…(1) Recognizes God as our Creator and Sustainer, (2) delights in the gifts of others, and (3) gratefully participates in the communal life, exalting the needs of others over one’s own.” (112)
“Although stress is such a negative buzzword in our day, stress is not intrinsically bad. Girders on a bridge undergo stress in such forms as tension, pressure, and torsion (twisting). Stress is also a positive factor in human growth and development: bodies need appropriate levels of physical stress in order to grow properly; minds need to conquer new problems in order to learn. Looking at it this way, we can view stress as an objective situation and view anxiety as one possible subjective response to it.” (131)
“Rather than allowing you to be honest about your finitude, your anxiety tells you that not only should you be able to do everything you imagine needs to be done, but you should do it perfectly. Anxiety whispers in your ear not that you are a good creature made by God but that you are insignificant, a disappointment, even a failure. Anxiety confuses limitation with sin, thus convincing us that we are letting God down. It pushes us into self-accusations and unrealistic views of ourselves.” (132)
“Ministry leader, your work is very important, but unrealistic expectations produce unhealthy problems and often drive pastoral burnout.” (181)
God would you help us to believe more deeply in the beauty of our finitude. May you grant us the vision to see how you’ve made us in your image but with limitations that are good by design. And may we apply this truth as we seek to love you and love others in our daily comings and goings.
Amen
Pastor Jeremy
