The Art of Being You
by Bob Kilpatrick & Joel Kilpatrick
Reviewed by Dale Lewis
"The artistically minded as well as the artistically challenged will see their faith walk with a renewed perspective after reading The Art of Being You."
In The Art of Being
You, it’s the author’s thesis that most
Christ-followers take a "math" approach to their faith journey
making it manageable with a system of "do's and don'ts." Somewhere
along history’s timeline, they began to expect the Bible to be more
like a textbook/rulebook than an expression of the art and mystery of God
. . . living their lives accordingly. We often reason rather than point
to the mystery. God is not a mathematician, mechanic, teacher or the Wizard
of Oz although we often perceive Him in that way.
The Art of Being You is a transparent glimpse into God’s creative
plans and work in our lives. This new paradigm is simple enough yet too
large to fully understand and get our arms wrapped around. God is not taking
a band-aid approach to fixing us but rather a passionate, visionary artist’s
continual effort to express His creativity in each one of us. God considers
humankind his masterpiece.
The Kilpatricks clearly explain the difference between "math" and "art" when
it comes to our perceptions concerning God. Here are some of the phrases
clarified within the pages . . . Math equates while Art creates; Evangelism
is Math -- Friendship is Art; Generosity is Art and Tithing is Math and
last but not least, Fear is Math while Love is Art.
The authors really
shine in the chapter entitled “The Art of the
Spiritual Disciplines” where they do not speak down or camp in judgment
mode, choosing instead to encourage and challenge our intentionality.
Here are a few pull-quotes that jumped off the pages for me:
"We have taken the art of evangelism and turned it into a series of equations – a
ministry of math . . . we have removed the one thing that makes us so attractive – loving
relationships with God and one another.”
"Some Christians see glory as a mystical nexus between earth and heaven – an
overwhelming sense of God’s power or a kind of swirling, dizzying cloud
of his presence . . . But I have come to believe that God’s greatest
glory is in people -- flawed, human limited people.”
"The crucifixion was the highest art – the promise of redemption
and remaking of creation, the Artist becoming one with His art, redeeming it
from within
and sacrificing so it could be fully realized.”
If they had asked me, I’d have titled this book “The Art of Becoming
You” because it’s a process. It is not so much a formulaic approach
to life as a freedom to experience life without restraints. To fully believe
God sees us as new creations: whole, complete and a stunning part of his creative
process.
The artistically minded as well as the artistically challenged will see their
faith walk with a renewed perspective after reading The Art of Being You.
