BOOK: What If Jesus Was Serious About Heaven?

By Skye Jethani | Amazon.com | 192 pages
Published in October of 2023

SUMMARY: Before diving into his 41 devotionals on heaven author Skye Jethani discusses his fondness of maps and the fact that each one of us carries a mental map that “orient(s) and guide(s) us, offer(s) perspectives, and provide(s) a framework for understanding our place in a complicated world.” Our mental maps “define what is real, what is important, and where things reside in relation to each other.” But what if one of our mental maps is wrong?

“If our maps are wrong, they are certain to misguide and misorient us,” Jethani writes in his fourth devotional book What if Jesus Was Serious About Heaven? “If it is incorrect, it will send other aspects of our faith and life off course as well.”

Jethani argues that many, perhaps the majority of, American Christians have an incorrect mental map of heaven–what he calls a heaven-centric view of Christianity. This view centers on getting to heaven as one of the main goals, if not the main goal, of Christianity. This view shapes our theology, how we interact with our neighbors, how we view and treat the Earth, how we engage with politics—basically our entire lives. But, what if heaven is not the center of Christianity?

This might sound like heresy, but Jethani humbly asks the reader to consider another mental map of heaven, a mental map that is centered on Jesus. Jethani contends that when we have a Jesus-centric view of Christianity parts of the Bible that don’t make sense suddenly fall into place. How we interact with our neighbors, how we engage with politics, and how we treat the Earth all change.

“If we are going to be faithful to God, we must ask if our mental map of heaven is grounded in the revelation of Scripture or if it’s mostly the product of cultural cliches and sentimental traditions? We must be willing to surrender the flawed map we like for the more accurate map we need.”

Throughout his devotional Jethani addresses parts of Scripture and what they mean in light of a Jesus-centric view. He tackles the so-called divide between the earth and heaven, what defines a miracle, if heaven is a place in the sky, and much more. He helpfully explains the cultural context of several passages in the Bible while placing them in the overall narrative of the Biblical story. For the visual learners, he has poignant doodles at the beginning of each chapter that touch on the theme of the devotional.

Simply put, Jesus is here and he is coming. Heaven is here and it is coming. Amen and amen.

KEY QUOTE: “What we believe about the future determines what we believe matters in the present. This is why a heaven-centric view of the Christian life is so damaging. It severely limits what we believe Jesus cares about and, therefore, narrows the mission and works his followers engage in…Once we discover that heaven is not our eternal home, and that we will reign with God on earth, then we must rethink many of our assumptions about the future.”

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BONUS: We highly recommend his other three devotionals as well What if Jesus Was Serious?, What if Jesus Was Serious About Prayer?, and What if Jesus Was Serious About the Church?

BONUS II: Want to learn more about the book? Listen to Jethani discuss his book on the Russell Moore Show.

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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