The Divine Commodity by Skye Jethani
Reviewed by Dale Lewis
"...propels the reader to think and rethink. Your assumptions will be challenged: a good thing for you and your church."
Without much of a fight, we have given in to a way of life and a way of thinking that has yet to fulfill us. Sadly, we have become strangers to sacrifice —consumers consumed.
The author of The Divine Commodity believes we have let our consumer culture creep in and dominate the mindset within the church. Too often, the church mirrors culture, chasing after the next big program or the popular speaker/author of the moment or . . . Skye says, “The consumerism I’m concerned with is the one that functions as a worldview. It forms the uncontested assumptions of our lives, and when it intersects our faith our perception of worship, mission, church, community, belief, and even God is fundamentally altered.”
Jethani’s The Divine Commodity propels the reader to think and rethink. Your assumptions will be challenged: a good thing for you and your church.
Using the life story and artwork of Vincent van Gogh as a basis, Jethani weaves a plan for readers to crush the mold of our consumer culture. I so appreciate the fact that he doesn’t critique the darkest parts of the church and then abandon it without providing any hope. Fortifying the plan with Scripture, as well as personal illustrations, he examines how the oft-neglected spiritual disciplines can renew our minds while transforming our thought processes.
These insightful titles: “Slumber of the Imagination,” “At Eternity’s Gate,” “The Land of Desire” and “Branding of the Heart,” are among the nine chapters. A brief description which sums up the bottom line for each chapter is included on the contents page. There are so many excellent quotes within The Divine Commodity which increases the take home value. One moment I was in total agreement with what he’s sharing and the next minute, I was convicted and praying there is a way out of this mess.
And it is not only Jethani shouting out this clarion call of discovering a faith beyond consumer Christianity. Hear the words of Chuck Colson, Prison Fellowship, “Our nation is in this crisis precisely because we’ve traded in a Christian worldview of work, thrift, savings and prudence, and instead have embraced the false worldview of consumerism—of leisure, debt, and instant gratification.”
I wholeheartedly recommend The Divine Commodity to Christ-followers who are tired of being squeezed by culture and whose vision and imagination need a biblical jumpstart.
Be sure to check out
more of Jethani’s contributions at blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur
