Book Review: With by Skye Jethani

Skye Jethani is one of those authors who really convicts me with his writing and understanding of the Christian life. His previous book, The Divine Commodity is one of my favorite books, but also one that really shook me up and made me evaluate my life. I return to it several times a year to read and make sure I am not approaching God as a consumer, but as a man who truly desires God himself.

With is another book that just smashed me to pieces. Jethani deconstructs the modern views of the Christian life and exposes them for what they are....frauds. He then sweeps those broken pieces away and reconstructs an accurate picture of what life with God should look like.

He writes about the four types of life that so many Christians get stuck in and explains each in a way that is both revealing and convicting. They are Life Under God, Life Over God, Life From God, and Life For God. Sadly I have existed in each of these types of "Life" and when reading through his descriptions of each realized there are many people in my own church where I serve that are stuck in one or even two of these constraints. And I didn't realize how damaging these four lifestyles are for Christians.

Life Under God - Means we appease God by keeping his rules and regulations and by doing so we can get what we want from him. It's a false impressions that by keeping these rules and moral codes that we somehow gain power over God and gain control.

Life Over God - This form of life seeks to understand how the world works and then relies on implementing those principles to control one's own life. There is no room for God in this lifestyle. You simply learn how to do things and then live by those principles. Some can be learned from God, but there is no relying on God. This is where the "Five Steps to a Happy Marriage" or "10 Ways to get out of debt and Make More Money" type of mentality rules. There is always a set of steps or principles to learn to be self-sufficient. Who needs God when you can do it yourself? This is the watchmaker mentality towards God. He sets things in motion, you learn how his world works, he stays out of your way and you can handle life!

Life From God - This view is of God as the genie in a bottle! He supplies your every need whenever you ask. This could be labeled the "Health and Wealth" mentality. As Jethani writes, "In this way Life From God is nothing more than consumerism with a Jesus sticker slapped on the bumper." God becomes a form of entertainment, Daddy Gold Bucks, the Chuck E Cheese of Heaven, giving us this great big world of fun, material things and a life free from reality. The danger here is the obviousness of that not being how God works and clearly not how scripture calls us as Christians to live. This puts us at the center and our desires as the focal point.

Life For God- This life is describing those who constantly worry about having to "be in God's will." They are the people who can't relax without praying about everything, constantly criticizing their motives and wondering if they should be doing something else. I'll let Jethani's explanation speak for itself:

"Life For God places the self with its desires at the center. Cutting open the Life For God's cosmic apple would reveal a mission at the core. Some great goal--understood to be initiated by God and carried forward by us--defines everything and everyone. An individual is either on mission, the object of the mission, an obstacle to the mission, an aid to the mission, or a fat Christian who should be on mission." 

These Christians constantly ask questions like "What should I do with my life?" or "How can I prove that I am valuable?"

The church has fed this mentality by training believers to find their worth in attending church, serving in different capacities, etc.. So when they begin reflecting on their life it is natural for them to begin buying into this lie that in order for them to be in God's will they must have some type of important connection with the church as a staff member, missionary, etc... 

Jethani then unloads Life With God as the true life of a Christian. Very simply put, life with God is nothing more than treasuring God, uniting with God and communing with God. All other life flows from these three characteristics of what life with God looks like. He then further unpacks this with chapters on life with faith, life with hope and life with love.

I highly recommend the book as a catalyst for change in our lives. It is not always easy reading, but it will definitely call us out to diagnose the disease of our very shallow faith. 

Pick up a copy for yourself and a few to give away!

This copy was provided by Booksneeze as a review copy, and all views expressed above are mine and mine alone. They didn't bribe me to write a positive review, so no worries!