Practicing The Way

Practicing The Way

I read a lot of really good books and from time to time, I come across a book that I find myself constantly recommending. Such is John Mark Comer’s recent book Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus. Become like him. Do as he did.

As someone who cares deeply about equipping Kingdom leaders to lead from the inside out, this book makes a formidable contribution. I trust you will take time not only to read this book, but to reflect on how to deepen your apprenticeship to the One who showed us what servant-leadership is all about. In the meantime, consider these quotes.

• There is no problem in human life that apprenticeship to Jesus cannot solve.

• Contrary to what many assume, Jesus did not invite people to convert to Christianity. He didn’t even call people to become Christians (keep reading…); he invited people to apprentice under him into a whole new way of living. To be transformed.

• My thesis is simple: Transformation is possible if we are willing to arrange our lives around the practices, rhythms, and truths that Jesus himself did, which will open our lives to God’s power to change.

My thesis is simple: Transformation is possible if we are willing to arrange our lives around the practices, rhythms, and truths that Jesus himself did, which will open our lives to God’s power to change.

–John Mark Comer

• The greatest issue facing the world today is not climate change, surveillance capitalism, human rights, or the specter of nuclear war, as utterly crucial as all these are. But can you imagine how many of those problems would effectively be solved overnight if the billions of living humans who identify as Christians all became apprentices of Jesus? If their driving aim was to approach every challenge as Jesus would?

• This is the first and most important goal of apprenticeship to Jesus: to be with him, to spend every waking moment aware of his presence and attentive to his voice. To cultivate a with-ness to Jesus as the baseline of your entire life.

• Now, I recognize that turning God into a habit may sound about as inspiring as turning romance or laughter or poetry into a habit. In a culture that equates authenticity with spontaneous emotions, habit is a tough sell. But show me a person’s habits, and I will show you what they are truly most passionate about, most dedicated to, most willing to suffer for, and most in love with. And I will show you who they will become.

• Formation into the image of Jesus isn’t something we do as much as it’s something that is done to us, by God himself, as we yield to his work of transforming grace. Our job is mostly to make ourselves available.

Formation into the image of Jesus isn’t something we do as much as it’s something that is done to us, by God himself, as we yield to his work of transforming grace. Our job is mostly to make ourselves available.

–John Mark Comer

• Confession is a core practice of the Way, and contrary to what many think, it’s not at all about beating yourself up in public. It’s about courageously naming your woundedness and wickedness in the presence of loving community as you journey together toward wholeness. It’s about not only the confession of sin but also the confession of what is true—who you are, who Christ is, and who you truly are in Christ. It’s about coming out of hiding into acceptance, leaving behind all shame.

• I used to weigh potential behaviors with the question, Is this sinful or not? But now that I better understand the gospel and its possibility of “life that is truly life” with Jesus, my new question is, does this move me toward Jesus or away?

• The practices are disciplines based on the lifestyle of Jesus that create time and space for us to access the presence and power of the Spirit and, in doing so, be transformed from the inside out.

May these reflections from Practicing The Way encourage you in your pursuit to be a leader who cares more about your inner life than your public platform. Let’s not be leaders who have bought the lie that leadership is all about position, power, privilege, and perks. But rather let’s be leaders who live, lead, love, and serve out of the overflow of our faithful following of Christ.

Chuck Olson
Founder | Lead With Your Life

BTW, I have curated dozens of ‘keepers’ from JMC’s book. Check out these Book Notes to see them all.