Yesterday I saw a church sign in the Appalachian Mountains that said “Choose Jesus in 2021.”

I would agree. It is best to decide to follow Jesus whether in the new year whether you are someone who has been a Christian for 20 years, 2 months or someone who does not believe God exists. To follow Christ is a daily decision to prioritize your spiritual relationship to God before other distractions in life.

Yet the story of following Jesus cannot end with a slogan on a road-side sign. What does that mean on a Wednesday morning? Sometimes pastors can give vague answers to such a question. Generalized, vague answers annoy me. At the end of sermons sometimes at church I want to raise my hand and say “You’ve given us the what, why, who, where and when. But how do you live this out? How would you live out what you just preached about?” Pastors sometimes do this intentionally for the sake of letting the audience come to their own way of applying the Bible to their life. But I love it when pastors open up and talk about their personal habits that make them more Christ-like. Pastors who have stories about how they practiced what they just explained in a sermon are more trustworthy and human.

I want to point out three books that do an excellent job of answering the “how.” All three books do not shy away from the “how.” These authors are experienced and are not stuck in the church’s ivory tower. They have all pointed me towards God and pushed me to towards my own sanctification.

"Recapturing the Wonder: Transcendent Faith in a Disenchanted World" by Mike Cosper

Central Question of This Book Answers: How does the Christian cultivate a life that recognizes God’s presence and power?

Cosper’s book is a practical application of theologian James KA Smith’s book “You Are What You Love.” Smith’s book made an argument that in order to become Christ-like we need to develop habits in our lives. One of Smith’s big criticisms of Christians today is that we fill ourselves with knowledge on Sunday mornings and perhaps some Bible readings during the week, but we often fail to develop habits that allow us to put our knowledge into practice. Cosper’s book is 8 chapters of daily habits that will help us to “recapture the wonder.” The wonder that Cosper is talking about is living in the presence of God.

Cosper brings up that the typical person in the 21st century has been trained in what he calls “the disciplines of disenchantment.” One of disciplines is the passive acceptance of consumer culture. One common habit we find ourselves in today is being the recipient of advertising which appeals to deeply human wants and needs. Cosper says:

“We are, like all pilgrims before us, still on a quest for the good life, for something transcendent. That longing combines with our temptation to grasp and hoard and with a sense of the world’s scarcity, and consumerism is born. While gratitude and abundance are the heart of generosity, dissatisfaction is the fuel of our consumer culture, provoking our longings and directing them at products. The sense that something is missing from our lives---the sense of scarcity that pervades a godless, disenchanted world---is answered by ads for products that say, “I have what you’ve been looking for.”

Consumerism’s main method of influence is advertising, specifically television and online ads. As we become Smartphone people, we must endure online ads just to read a CNN article. Commercials are ingrained into our everyday experience despite the fact we’ve lived years without cable television and no longer read the newspaper. Yet Cosper is saying here that only fuels our dissatisfaction and aims it at a product. Commercials that promise that a product will fulfill your desires is inherently deceptive. If we take the extra step to go buy the product, we will then be disenchanted with our existence here on earth. Is it possible that our cynicism and disappointment with life may be connected to watching too many commercials?

At the end of each of Cosper’s chapters, he suggests a “pathway”(or practice) we should consider doing. In the case of fighting against consumerism, he suggests we practice hospitality to practice being generous towards others. This is not a theory for Cosper, he gives specific instructions for how to have a “feast.” Here are “The Ground Rules of a Feast”:

"1.) Turn off your phones. I know you haven’t eaten a great meal without Instagramming it in a few years, but please show up ready to be present to the actual human beings you’re in the room with. Put your phone on “do not disturb” or, better yet, turn it off and leave it in the car/bedroom/nearby dumpster. (At a gathering recently, the host required a “phone stack,” where everyone left their phones in a pile by the door.)
4.) Conversations will be driven by joy. This is perhaps the most important of the rules. At the feast table, conversations should be driven by what people are joyful about, what interests them, and what’s worth celebrating. Obligatory conversation about jobs, bosses, school, homework, the weather, and other boring topics will be curtailed. So reflect before you come to the table: What can we celebrate with you? What are you thankful for? What has ignited your curiosity lately? What stories do you want to tell? (This is hard for people, and it’s the duty of the host to help steer these conversations. Occasionally barking “No Work!” tends to get the job done.)"

As Christians, we are given multiple gifts by God on a daily basis. As Christians, we serve a generous God. Rather than being consumers in our society, we can see out opportunities to be generous to others. Along with that, practicing “a feast” also gives us a context to love other people-------God’s 2nd commandment to us. In a COVID world, people are more isolated. Therefore a feast can become a habit we add on our schedules.

“The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World” by John Mark Comer

Central Question(s) This Book Answers: How do you find rest in a world of workaholics?/
How does the Christian find rest in being a finite human being in a culture that often suggests we are limitless?

Comer’s book title is very accurate to what the book is about. The book is aimed at trying to understand why everyone is in such a hurry in our American culture today. Comer goes into detail about multiple causes as to why this is. One particular part of Comer’s book hits on the fact that Americans demand so much of themselves.

For myself, the part of Comer’s book that stuck me the most was his analysis of coming to terms with the limitations of being human in an American culture that pushes us to believe we have no limits. John Mark Comer on why we hurry so much in life:

“We live in a culture that wants to transgress all limitations, not accept them---to cheat time and space. To ‘be like God.’ To watch every new film, listen to every podcast, read every new book (and don’t forget the classics!), hear every record, go to every concert, drive every road trip, travel to every country(another stamp for the passport, please) eat at every new restaurant, party at every new bar opening, befriend every new face, fix every problem in society, rise to the top of every field, win every award, make every list of who’s who----”

Comer here critiques American culture’s message that we need to experience such a variety of moments that it nearly makes it impossible to be present in the moment we currently inhabit. When I read this paragraph I remember exhaling and putting the book down because it was such a relief to hear someone say this out-loud. I had to put the book down because I could not believe someone had actually verbalized all of this.

To make this a bit more blatant to the reader, Comer even makes a list of we can only be in one place at a time and that we are not omnipresent, omnipotent beings. Comer makes a list of how we are human:

"1. Our bodies. As I said, unlike Luke Skywalker, we can be in only one place at a time. Hence the rub on limitations.
2. Our minds. We can only “know in part” as Paul once said, and the problem is, we don’t know what we don’t know. Nobody is an encyclopedia. We all miss things. As the saying goes, “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” What we don’t know can often hurt us. Our IQs, which are not the same across the board, also limit us. Yes, the mind is much like a muscle, and we can exercise it to its full potential. But no matter how much I read or study or how many degrees I pursue, I will simply never have the intelligence of many of the people I most look up to. This is a fairly significant limitation.

3. Our giftings. On a similar note as above, I will simply never have the giftings of many of the people I most look up to. Comparison just eats away at our joy, doesn’t it? Whatever your thing is-----parenting, painting, music, entrepreneurship, origami---whatever---there will always be somebody better at it than you. Always. Stings doesn’t it? Buy why should it? What is it about the human condition that makes it well-nigh impossible for many of us to celebrate both those who are more gifted than we are and our own best work? When did the standard for success become a celebrity’s magnum opus, not our own sweat and tears?

4. Our personalities and emotional wiring. We only have so much capacity. I’m an introvert. I’m actually deeply relational, but my relational plate is small. I’m also melancholy by nature. I hate to admit it, but some people have a lot more capacity than I do. They can relate to more people, carry more responsibility, handle more stress, work more hours, lead more people, and so on, than I could ever dream of. Even the best version of me can’t do it all."

Comer rounds out his list of 10 limitations with our family of origin, socioeconomic origin, education, seasons of life, the fact we can only live about 80 years and God’s call on our lives. It seems to me that he made an intentional effort of making a list of 10 limitations because he knows that as Americans we tend to believe we are superhuman if we organize schedules, maximize our experiences and seize the day in our waking hours. It is almost like Comer is gently reminding us that we are mortal. I know I’d prefer to believe I am superhuman.

Yet Comer argues that limitations are something we should “gratefully accept as a signpost to God’s call on souls.” Comer then argues that our belief that we have no limitations is one reason we are such a hurry. If I slowly accept that I am not superhuman, then I can begin to depend on God’s way of rest and on how God wants to use me in my limited capacities. Of course, this all becomes significantly more hopeful when I begin to remember God’s power and His ability to use the gifts he gave me.

The 2nd half of Comer’s book gives practical suggestions on how to practice solitude, Sabbath, simplicity and “slowing.” These chapters suggest practices that make us pay attention to God and actually be present in the moment we occupy. This part of the book is very practical as well. Comer actually suggest in his “slowing” part of the book to drive the speed limit, not text while driving and drive in the slow lane. He says he tries to do this to be in the presence of God and to pray for your friends. This sounds a bit over the top, but Comer suggests it is a way to detox from always being in a hurry.

These kind of straight-forward practices that help me walk with God and think about my faith. I understand the theology, but even though I’m 37, I need applications that can apply immediately. Comer does a great job of offering the “what is the problem” (our belief we are superhuman) and the “how to live out the solution” (seek God while driving ).

“The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World” by Rosaria Butterfield

Central Question(s) This Book Answers: What are practical ways we can use our homes to love and minister to both Christians and non-Christians? How do we cultivate a Christ-like attitude of hospitality towards strangers?

Hospitality is what brought Rosaria Butterfield to faith in Jesus Christ. Before she became a Christian, Butterfield was an English professor at Syracuse who was writing a book about the Religious Right. During this time of her life, she considered Christians her enemy. At the time, Butterfield was a lesbian and her assumption was that Christians inherently hated gay people. She wanted to check her assumptions regarding why Christians did not like gay people, so she befriended a Presbyterian pastor and his wife Ken and Floy Smith. Little did she know that their hospitality would make her open to Christianity. What she intended for research on the evangelical Christianity ended up in her conversion to Christ. She decided to leave the lesbian lifestyle and ended up marrying a pastor who now try to offer the same hospitality and love that the Smith family showed to her. Her experience with the Smith family pushed her then to write a book about the power of hospitality in a culture of isolation and loneliness.

Butterfield opens her book with her radical intention and prayer for the reader:

“My prayer is that this book will help you let God use your home, apartment, dorm room, front yard, community gym, or garden for the purpose of making strangers into neighbors and neighbors into family. Because that is the point---building the church and living like a family, the family of God. My prayer is that you stop being afraid of strangers, even when some strangers are dangerous. My prayer is that you will grow to more like Christ in practicing daily, ordinary, radical hospitality…”

As Christians, we should be open to unpredictable situations arising at our house. If you serve as a community group leader or a Bible study leader at your church, you probably understand the idea of inviting strangers into your house. I serve as a community group leader at my church and the church assigns people to my group. I don’t often choose who comes to my house, rather the church assigns new members to my group. I personally enjoy leading a community group because it often results in people who would not normally hang out together, becoming acquaintances and sometimes friends. Yet this always begins in low-level awkwardness. If we want to love non-Christians and/or other Christians, we must understand how to invite strangers into our house. Butterfield’s prayer above may sound a little radical to some, but she says this because she was once a stranger who walked into a hospitable family’s house.

Similar to Comer and Cosper, Butterfield gives clear directives on how to live out the “what” and the “why.” Butterfield says “Start Somewhere. Start Today” when thinking about how to get to know those in your church and/or connect with your neighbors. She says to start small by inviting people over to your house. But it may require sacrifice. She explains that inviting people into your house may not be a cheap endeavor:

“While others brag about how cheap they are when it comes to hospitality, Kent and I budget for it, and it hurts. Practicing daily, ordinary, Christian hospitality doubles our grocery budget---and sometimes triples it. There are vacations we do not take, house projects that never get started, entertainment habits that never get an open door, new cars and gadgets that we don’t even bother coveting. Our children will never be Olympic-level soccer stars, wear designer clothes, or have social calendars requiring a staff of drivers. Instead, my children build forts and catch frogs in the backyard, eat popsicles in the trees, and bring neighborhood kids to dinner and devotions when the bell rings.”

This is one of many detailed examples that Butterfield gives in her book of what her family has done to help other people. This is not an ideal for her, this is an ideal that she has put into practice and has seen the fruit of it. Detailed stories of what a Christian does on a daily basis (or in the past) speaks louder than abstract ideals.

I appreciate these books because all authors share personal stories about how they live out the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am at a phase in life where my Christian faith cannot sit idly as an abstract ideal in my head. In the past, perhaps while listening to a sermon or reading my Bible, I have felt God leading me to do some of the things Cosper, Comer and Butterfield have suggested. Reading their stories, it has given me courage to take action in following through with how God wants .