Matt Heard

LIFE WITH A CAPITAL L:  it's What we're Longing For

"THIS BOOK HAS IMPACTED ME MORE THAN ANYTHING I HAVE READ IN CHRISTIAN LITERATURE EXCEPT THE BIBLE.  I WILL REREAD IT OFTEN." 

– LAWTON CHILES

What is it that you hunger after?  Dream about?  Long for?
We all desire more than just the endurance of our daily routines. But often we feel limited and stuck — like we’re merely existing instead of living. That’s not the way it was meant to be.

In his book, Life with a Capital L: Embracing Your God-Given Humanity, Matt escorts us on a journey of discovery: that Jesus didn’t come to save us from our humanity — Christ instead yearns to restore it to what God originally intended.

When asked why he wrote the book, Matt offers, "I think many of us in churches are tragically less fluent than we should be regarding the grand 'why' of the Gospel. And many outside the church have dismissed an incomplete or even counterfeit Gospel.

Other than the forgiveness of sins and admission into heaven (both of which are marvelous), we often seem to be a bit muddled about what else the Gospel is actually for.

"In John 20:31, the Apostle tells us that he wrote his gospel for two reasons: (A) 'that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God' (let’s call that “Orthodoxy”) but also (B) 'that by believing you may have life in his name' (let’s refer to that as “Vibrancy”). Many of us within the church seem to be a bit inarticulate when it comes to 'Part B.’

"In churches and ministries, we’ve rightly focused on the ‘Orthodoxy’ of Part A – urging people to believe in Jesus as the Christ.  But, tragically, we’ve too often stopped there and neglected the ‘Vibrancy’ of Part B. We’ve focused on redemption from our sins but neglected the reason for our redemption: the restoration of our humanity in all of life to the glory of God. It’s not a matter of choosing one over the other but experiencing and proclaiming both. 

“There are some dangerous trends of dualism that have crept into evangelical churches – notions of a sacred/secular wall of separation between the spiritual and the physical, between church and the rest of the week. As a result, followers of Christ are struggling to taste the gospel’s powerful and holistic influence in their daily journeys. Meanwhile, unbelievers and the culture as a whole often hear a tragically distorted and truncated version of the gospel from us: 'come to Christ and leave your humanity behind.' No wonder they yawn. 

“I wrote Life with a Capital L to be a substantive but also accessible book that addresses the reality that Christ didn’t come to merely enhance our spirituality in a compartmentalized vacuum, but to restore our full humanity to God's glory; that a healthy spirituality should lead to a healthy humanity.  Part 1 of the book is about reclaiming our full humanity, under Christ’s enablement, and Part 2 is about experiencing it. 

“The title hints at a desire to unpack the present tense implications of ‘eternal life’ — that eternal life is not just a synonym for heaven, but something to be experienced now as well as in our future; that the life we ultimately long for is the Life only Christ can provide. As Christ, by His Spirit, lives in us and through us, we are fulfilled and God is glorified. 

“Ultimately, I wrote the book for my three sons – Andrew, an Air Force Academy graduate, now a Captain stationed in Salt Lake City; Joel, a graduate of Colorado State University, now working with a smartphone app company in Denver, Colorado; and Stephen, a graduate of Whitworth University, who now works with a technology company in Missoula, Montana.  When I was their age, it would have been a powerful gift to have an overview of some of the broad-brush, day-to-day implications of the gospel to accompany me through my journey. That's why I chose such a large topic for my first book — if it ends up being my only book, I wanted it to be this one."

TO FIND OUT MORE:

To learn more or to order a copy, head to LifeWithACapitalL.com: click here.  

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