By Skye Jethani | Amazon.com | 191 pages
Published in June of 2020
SUMMARY: Short, sweet, and packed full of wisdom, What If Jesus Was Serious? is a 72 chapter devotional (with doodles!) that takes aim at Christians who don’t think what Jesus instructs during the Sermon on the Mount is practical or achievable. As a result, author Skye Jethani postulates that our rejection of the commands in the Sermon of the Mount may be part of the reason why the American church lacks credibility with our culture.
“If we want the culture to take Jesus more seriously, maybe we should try it first,” Jethani writes in the introduction.
Jethani’s challenging and insightful writing points to changing a person’s interior by focusing on the words Jesus spoke in Matthew and putting those instructions into action. The Scripture readings, the sobering and sometimes funny drawings, and the exceptional insights force the reader into humble self-reflection — to go beyond exterior change and really start to work on the heart.
What If Jesus Was Serious? is highly recommended for people who don’t like the typical sentimental, run of the mill devotional book and who want to be challenged in their thinking on a daily basis.
KEY QUOTE: “What if the underlying malady afflicting Christians today isn’t that we take Jesus too seriously, but that we’ve failed to take Him seriously enough? What if much of the culture’s judgement of Christians isn’t the result of obeying Jesus, but the result of Christians ignoring Him?”
BONUS: If you don’t have time to read the book, listen to Jethani discuss his book with Drew Dyck on the Writing for a Change podcast.
DID YOU KNOW? Sunday to Saturday has a GoodReads page where we post all of the books we have read – even the ones that didn’t make the cut.
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The words we use matter. Therefore when we use words, especially words that are intended as an insult, we should be fully aware of their history and meaning. Unfortunately many Christians use woke as an insult ignorant of the terms history. One way we can show respect to our fellow image bearers is by learning about the history of a word. By reading, listening to, and watching the various forms of media below you should have the start of a well-rounded understanding of the word woke and why Christians should stop using it as a pejorative.
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Sunday to Saturday 