You know as well as I do that you are a finite being. Yet you know as well as I do that at times you fight against your finitude, you battle against your inevitable limits and boundaries as if they are a problem to be overcome or even a sin to be repented of. Yet what if your limits are not a bug but a feature of your humanity? What if these limitations are God’s gift and, therefore, good and worthy of embrace? These are the kinds of questions Kelly Kapic wants you to consider through his new book You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News.

There are times in life when we all run into the reality of our finitude. Whether it’s through weakness or illness, whether it’s through loss or failure, whether it’s through seeing that others are smarter than we are or that others are more capable than we are, we must all at some point face our limitations. We can’t know it all, we can’t do it all, we can’t be it all. Yet “the odd thing is that, even when we run into our inevitable limits, we often hang on to the delusion that if we just work harder, if we simply squeeze tighter, if we become more efficient, we can eventually regain control.” Peace comes only when we embrace finitude as an unavoidable part of being creatures rather than the Creator. This is how we were designed and there is nothing we can do to change it. There’s nothing we should do to even attempt to change it.
There is something deep in the heart of humanity that prompts us to rebel against our finitude, against the reality that we are dependent creatures who cannot exist for a day, or even a moment, apart from God. The very first sin was a rebellion against limits God had imposed on humanity and in some way that was the prototype for every sin that has followed. But what if we were to see that dependency upon God is a gift, not a deficiency? What if we were to go farther and actually embrace our limits and thank God for them, then live at peace with all the things we cannot do and cannot be?
In this book, Kapic says he wants “us to take time to carefully think about our creatureliness. This will reveal limits, dependence, love, reliance on the grace of God, and worship. We will examine the joy of being a creature and the freedom of resting on the promises of the Creator. We will question harmful and unrealistic ideals and begin to appreciate the messiness of our complex lives.” It is only when we come to see the sheer goodness of our limitedness that we can begin to relate properly as finite creatures before an infinite Creator and “worship him as he made us: dignified, purposeful, vulnerable, finite creatures. We do not apologize for our creaturely needs and dependence on others, for we discover this is how God made us, and it is good.”
Kapic does this by considering what God thinks of us in our limitations and considering the humanity of Jesus Christ. He considers the human body and what it says about our limitations and then considers identity in the context of family, culture, and our particular historical setting. With this groundwork in place, he considers humility, time, the process of change, the local church, and living faithfully as believers in Jesus Christ. By the end he has called his readers to see and believe that we were meant to live within our limitations and to live with dependency upon God. “God made us to be limited creatures, able to freely participate in his work, confident in his presence, and grateful for his promises and provision. Let us appreciate the goodness of our finitude as we rest in the love and provision of our infinitely good God. May it be so.” May it be so, indeed.
Kapic makes it clear in this book that it is a passion project, the culmination of many years of reflecting on the subject of finitude. That passion and depth of reflection is obvious from cover to cover and leads to a book that deep in its theology and profound in its teaching. It is at once comforting and challenging. Sinclair Ferguson summarizes it well when he says, “no hastily prepared, cheap-fix antidote, You’re Only Human is the product of years of reflection and concern, the work of a mature Christian theologian and a fine teacher. It is a love gift to the church.” I, like he, am glad to recommend it.

Buy from Amazon

Good morning from over the Atlantic as I make the long journey home. As always, it was great to meet so many wonderful people along the way. And, also as always, it will be great to be home.
Westminster Books has a deal on a new book for kids if that’s of interest.

Jake Meador expresses his concerns about the overuse of therapy.

This is a good reflection on the early verses of James 1. “This is not what we expect James to say. We expect him to say something like this: Count it all joy when God shows up in your life in miraculous ways. Count it all joy when life is clicking along just how you hoped it would. Count it all joy when heaven answers your prayers with a resounding ‘yes’.”

Carl Trueman covers the massive influence and tragic death of Shulamith Firestone.

John Piper is probably right when he says, “I think 95 percent of our listeners are not in this category of being a pastor (or almost a pastor) who would like help in finding a wife, but I’m betting 90 percent of them are not going to turn this off. They wonder, What is Pastor John going to say?”

“Much like this lone Sunflower, God is sowing something beautiful in you amidst the harshness and difficulties of your surroundings and circumstances. He may have planted you there, but he hasn’t abandoned you there. Instead of allowing you to remain hardened and lifeless, he has given you life in him, increasingly adorning you with his character, glory, and beauty in the least likely of places.”

Bob Kellemen covers two very different ways of reading people we disagree with.

Every church is in danger of disruption and disunity when Christian turns on Christian or Christian turns away from Christian…Here, for your consideration, are four sources of disunity that may just exist in your church.

Spiritual dryness is the result of spiritual indolence. Be active, and you will not be unfruitful.
—Charles Ebert Orr

I am still in Unalaska, Alaska. That’s three days now in which no flights have been able to land. As much as I am enjoying the place and people, I’m ready to get home!

This month Logos is offering a Get Logos 10, Give Logos 10 deal. They are also offering weekly specials as they approach Black Friday. This week you can get deals on a good number of commentaries, theological resources, and so on. Finally, don’t forget to look at their free and nearly free books for the month.
There is another huge list of Kindle deals today. It includes a long list of general market books.
(Yesterday on the blog: Living Sorrows and Departed Joys)
Train Up a Child
“For years, I looked at Proverbs 22:6 as a promise from God. I believed if I taught my children the truths of the Word of God, they would turn out right and never rebel.” Dianna corrects herself and offers some items for reflection.
Divine Infinity (Video)
In this brief explainer video, Kevin DeYoung explains God’s infinity.
Should Evangelicals Pray with Roman Catholics?
Leonardo De Chirico considers joint prayer meetings between Protestants and Roman Catholics. “As I speak at conferences on Roman Catholicism worldwide and how Evangelicals should relate to it, a question often arises: ‘What about joint prayer? Could or should Evangelicals pray with Roman Catholics?’ Let me offer my rules of thumb as I wrestle with the issue.”
75 Theses on Pastoral Ministry
J.A. Medders offers a long list of 75 theses on pastoral ministry.
Is “Mental Illness” a Helpful Label?
“Considerable controversy has arisen over the label ‘mental illness’ and whether or when such a label should be used.” Tom Karel and David Murray consider whether it’s a helpful label and whether, therefore, we ought to use it.
Psalm Singing: The Church’s Punk Rock
The title might be a little over the top, but the article itself is a good one. It explains why churches ought to include psalms in the selections they sing in their worship services.
Flashback: If God Is Not Sovereign…
Unless God is sovereign we look to the future with uncertainty rather than confidence, with hope that is shaky and trepidatious rather than firmly fixed.

God’s glory and our good are not mutually exclusive. —Erik Raymond