The Shaping of Things to Come (Part I)

"The truth consists not in knowing the truth intellectually but in being the truth... Knowing the truth is something which follows as a matter of course from being the truth, and not conversely. And it is precisely for this reason it becomes untruth when knowing the truth is separated from being the truth, or when knowing the truth is treated as one and the same thing as being the truth, since true relation is the converse of this: to be the truth is one and the same thing as knowing the truth." -Kierkegaard, "Training in Christianity"

I read this quote late last night in Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch's revolutionary book The Shaping of Things to Come. I had a terrible case of insomnia last night, literally getting less than one hour of sleep. The problem was that my mind was racing. And my mind was racing mostly because of thoughts that had been planted in my head over a year ago when I read this book while taking a class at Mars Hill under Dwight Friesen.

I have to admit I was not originally impacted very much when I read it, but it never really left my mind, until I finally had to reread nearly the entire thing last night! My plan is to share some quotes and thoughts from it in the days to come (but not in a systematic manner). This quote from Kierkergaard is worth reading a few times, though I think it speaks for itself. We need to embody our faith. This seems obvious, yet we as the church rarely challenge people to do this, at least not fully. In the past few days I have seen some people take bold, drastic steps because of the Gospel, and have felt a renewed calling on my life that scares me to death, yet seems to be a challenge to faithfulness from God, asking me whether or not I can stop just teaching and knowing truth and actually be the truth. We will see.

Peace,
Matt

Currently Pondering: Immigration laws, impeachment possibilities, the rave scene, the horn of Africa, cancer, the pitfalls of Emergent, Solomon/wisdom, and the absolute arrogance of Western culture.