Episode 24: Kelly Kapic

February 7, 2022

Jedd sits down with Kelly Kapic, author of the new book, You’re Only Human.  The two explore the freedom and other gifts found in embracing our human limitations and finiteness. Rooted in a rich vision of both creation and the incarnation, the conversation also offers practical ways to cultivate gratitude, rest and faithful service.

In this episode, we'll explore:

  • How both Creation and the Incarnation affirm our human limitations as a gift rather than a deficiency.

  • How acknowledging our finitude helps us delight more in others and their gifts.

  • Why making productivity the highest value in our lives undermines our capacity to love.

  • The importance of realistic expectations and awareness of different seasons in life.

  • Why Christian humility is not foremost about sin, but our healthy dependence on God and others.

  • The importance of community to living healthfully as finite creatures.

  • What it means to live faithfully amidst limitations.

  • Practical choices that help us live with a light-hearted sense of our own finitude.

  • Click here to get Kelly's new book: You're Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God's Design and Why That's Good News

Key Quotes:

"Denying our finitude cripples our ability to love." - Kelly Kapic

"Efficiency and productivity are not bad, but when they become our highest values, they rule out love." - Kelly Kapic

"We think of ‘dependence’ as a bad word. But the reality is that even before the Fall, God created us to be dependent on Him, on one another, and on the earth." - Kelly Kapic

"Since the very first temptation, we have chafed against our limits and finiteness. The first temptation was, ‘You shall be as gods.’" - Jedd Medefind

"The fact that God is not embarrassed to enter into and become one with us as humans means that we should not be ashamed of our physical, finite bodies." - Kelly Kapic

"Simply telling myself ‘I’ve done enough’ just never seems believable. But if I have another human look me in the eye and say, ‘Kelly, you need to be done…’ I can do it." - Kelly Kapic

"If we look at all the needs of the world all on our own, we will always be overwhelmed, crushed." - Jedd Medefind

"What God expects of the Church is more than any of us can do. And the way to solve that is not by me doing it all, nor by pretending that God doesn’t have these important things for us to do. The way to solve it is to see that it takes the entire Church, not just an individual, to do these things together." - Kelly Kapic

"How you and I think about and experience sleep and rest is a great indicator of what we think God expects of us and what it means to be human." - Kelly Kapic

"Sleep is an act of faith." - Kelly Kapic

Meet Our Guest

Kelly Kapic
Husband, father, respected writer and speaker… beloved professor

Kelly M. Kapic is professor of theological studies at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. He is the award-winning author or editor of more than 15 books, including Embodied Hope (IVP Academic, 2017), The God Who Gives (Zondervan Academic, 2018), and Becoming Whole with Brian Fikkert (Moody, 2019). Kapic is also part of a John Templeton Foundation grant studying “Christian Meaning-Making, Suffering, and the Flourishing Life.”