Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do by Paul David Tripp
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another very good book by one of my favorite writers--Paul David Tripp. He's so honest, down-to-earth, real. We all have a problem--we've got bad cases of "awe amnesia." We're not just law-breakers ("for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God"--Rom. 3:23), we are all awe-breakers: we are too easily distracted and lose our sense of awe (fear) of the Almighty Creator God.

Here's the way Tripp nicely summarizes things at the end of the book:
"In this book, we have focused on a theology of awe, and here’s how that theology relates to you. Good theology doesn’t just define who God is; it also defines who we are as his children. It’s not just that God is in every way awesome in glory, but that he is all that he is for you by grace!...you forget who God is (i.e., you misdirect your awe), you will not know who you are as his child (i.e., you will lose your identity), and you will look horizontally for what you have already been given vertically. Now here’s the application to the topic of this chapter: because work is such a huge and significant dimension of our lives, it becomes very tempting for us to look for our identity there. And when you look to work for your identity, you will find it very hard to resist its challenges, demands, and promises of reward.
The Horizontal Identities of Work:
1. Identity in achievement/ success. “I am what I have accomplished” is a very tempting place to look for identity. Success makes you feel able and competent. A trail of achievement seems to make a statement about who you are and what you are able to do.
2. Identity in power/ control. “I am in control; therefore, I am” is a seductive place to look for identity. In a world where most of us have so little control and where our lives often seem out of control, control is a very powerful thing...it is tempting to see the “good life” as predictable and controlled . So how do you assure yourself that you will have the good life? The answer is easy: by working yourself into a position of power over people and things.
3. Identity in affluence/ possessions. “ I am the size of the pile of stuff I have accumulated” is a dangerous place to look for identity."

We need to intentionally cultivate our sense of awe--of God & His creations. Of His goodness & mercy. Of His sovereignty & His salvation--of which we are undeserving. No, we're not in control. No, we don't decide our fate or the end of things. God alone does. Here's another great reminder of these things from Tripp's insightful book:

"It’s important to humbly admit that all these things tempt us. I know they tempt me. I tend to be driven and tend to take too much personal credit for my achievements. I forget that every achievement points to God’s awesome glory. I could not achieve anything without the body that he has given me, the gifts he has bestowed upon me, the control he has over me and my world, and the grace that daily rescues me from me. My successes should depend on my awe of him rather than tempting me to be in awe of me...[I] become an awe amnesiac, and when I do , I tend to work way too hard at trying to get from the people, situations, and things around me what I can only get from the God of awesome glory, who is my Savior. Workaholism is not a need problem . It’s not a schedule problem, a gift problem, or an opportunity problem. It happens when the awe of God is replaced by the awe of something else. When I forget that God in all his awesome glory is all that he is for me by grace, I will look for life somewhere other than in him. When you require yourself to gaze upon and consider God’s awesome glory, it will teach you things that will help you put your work in its proper place.
1. The gifts that you employ in your work come from and belong to God.
2. The time that you invest in work belongs to the Lord. I must recognize that God, in his awesome glory, is the only being in the universe who exists in timelessness.
3. You are called to live for something bigger than yourself. Awe of God teaches me that my life is enormously bigger than merely my life. By grace, God has connected me to things that are huge and eternal.
4. Success is not about accruing power but about resting in God’s power. The most successful person is the person who knows his place. The most successful person is the person who humbly submits all that she has and all that she does to the power of One greater than her.
5. God is too wise and loving ever to call you to one area of responsibility that will necessitate you being irresponsible in another. Awe teaches me that I can never blame God for the consequences of my bad choices. God will never call me to a work life that makes biblical commitments to my family and my church impossible.
6. By grace, God welcomes you to rest in the knowledge that you will find everything you need in him. Awe of God teaches me that, by grace, my life of work can now be an expression of rest and not worry."

Yes, as C.S. Lewis so eloquently stated:
"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."


View all my reviews