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Reviews
Becoming Worldly Saints: Can You Serve Jesus and Still Enjoy Your Life? by Michael E. Wittmer
oschrock's review
4.0
This book deals with the question, “Can you serve Jesus and still enjoy your life?”
It is an excellent balance to books like Platt’s “Radical” and Piper’s “Don’t waste your Life.” If you haven’t read those, maybe it would be good to read those alongside this book.
Naturally, Wittmer’s Eschatology influences how he interprets some scriptures and in the first several chapters I was afraid of where and how far he would take the concept of enjoying God’s creation, but by the end of the book he brought a very balanced view to the whole issue.
Quote: “We must continually assess how we’re doing on both counts. How long has it been since we spoke to someone about Jesus? How long since we prayed for just this opportunity? ...we must also ask whether we’re getting enough sleep and exercise. What do we do for fun? How long since we splurged on the people we love? Are we fully present when we are with them? Do they know we love them as ends, not merely as means to some higher spiritual goal?”
It is an excellent balance to books like Platt’s “Radical” and Piper’s “Don’t waste your Life.” If you haven’t read those, maybe it would be good to read those alongside this book.
Naturally, Wittmer’s Eschatology influences how he interprets some scriptures and in the first several chapters I was afraid of where and how far he would take the concept of enjoying God’s creation, but by the end of the book he brought a very balanced view to the whole issue.
Quote: “We must continually assess how we’re doing on both counts. How long has it been since we spoke to someone about Jesus? How long since we prayed for just this opportunity? ...we must also ask whether we’re getting enough sleep and exercise. What do we do for fun? How long since we splurged on the people we love? Are we fully present when we are with them? Do they know we love them as ends, not merely as means to some higher spiritual goal?”
adamschoenmaker's review
5.0
Aside from the truly awful cover art, this is a brilliant book. Eminently readable, thoroughly biblical, and wonderfully helpful. I can see myself coming back to this regularly, and recommending it to others widely.
josiahdegraaf's review
2.0
The book had some good points, but was mediocre at other points, and made some dubious conclusions at others. He's trying to combine Kuyperianism with R2K theology, and the problem is that you can't really straddle the middle ground like that. As a result, there's much more tension in this framework than I'm comfortable with and it seems to make it way too easy for believers to justify ignoring different commands of Scripture because they can just pick and choose which framework of viewing Christ-and-culture works better for them.
I read this book two weeks ago, and was having trouble remembering much noteworthy when sitting down to review it tonight, which probably says something. It wasn't a bad book, but it didn't really impress me much, and the overall framework was speculative enough that I didn't get much out of it.
Rating: 2.5 Stars (Okay).
I read this book two weeks ago, and was having trouble remembering much noteworthy when sitting down to review it tonight, which probably says something. It wasn't a bad book, but it didn't really impress me much, and the overall framework was speculative enough that I didn't get much out of it.
Rating: 2.5 Stars (Okay).
mdrfromga's review
5.0
Noteworthy quotes:
There are two ways to ruin our relationship with the Giver of all things. The first is to ignore him and focus entirely on his gifts. This temptation to idolatry is ever present, and we must remain vigilant against it. The second way is to ignore the gift and focus entirely on the Giver.
Our love for Jesus and his world is not a zero sum game. Attention given to creation is not stolen from its Creator. The more we enjoy God’s gifts for their own sake, the more we can appreciate him.
There are two ways to ruin our relationship with the Giver of all things. The first is to ignore him and focus entirely on his gifts. This temptation to idolatry is ever present, and we must remain vigilant against it. The second way is to ignore the gift and focus entirely on the Giver.
Our love for Jesus and his world is not a zero sum game. Attention given to creation is not stolen from its Creator. The more we enjoy God’s gifts for their own sake, the more we can appreciate him.