"Practicing the Way" -- A Review

John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way:  Be with Jesus, Become Like Him, Do As He Did (Waterbrook, 2024).

A Review

There is much to like about John Mark Comer’s new book, Practicing the Way:  Be with Jesus, Become Like Him, Do As He Did.  The big idea is that being a Christian isn’t merely about affirming certain doctrinal truths, but it necessarily involves “apprenticeship” under Jesus.  And like any apprentice (e.g., in the trades), all who attach themselves to Jesus must spend time with him.  And when they do, they will gradually become like him, and as a result they will follow in his steps and adopt his practices.  And yet, all of this takes time and is not realized apart from many fits and starts.  Along the discipleship pathway, we especially need help in knowing HOW to live out our faith in practical terms.

To make progress in this quest, we need a “Rule of Life,” a set of practices and life rhythms:  a plan for how to follow Jesus.  Things don’t just fall into place for believers.  Like athletes, we need to train and practice in order to advance in our apprenticeship under Jesus.  What’s more, this “rule” isn’t a law we keep to merit God’s favor.  Rather, it’s an action plan for demonstrating our trust in Jesus by adopting “spiritual disciplines” (i.e., habits) that push back on our sinful inclinations and help us live out our faith.  What’s more, the familiar spiritual steps of reading the Bible and praying, vital as they may be, simply are not sufficient to help followers of Jesus grow and thrive as his apprentices.  The Rule of Life which Comer proposes has nine components:  Sabbath, solitude, prayer, community, Scripture, fasting, generosity, service, and witness (these are unpacked on pp. 181-90, and nicely summarized on p. 225).

But Comer’s valuable contributions are diminished by some notable shortcomings of the book.  I’ll name a few.  First, the vision of the Christian life that’s offered is heavily focused on improved present-time experience, while the reality of the life to come is marginalized and minimized.  Comer claims, “For Jesus, salvation is less about getting you into heaven and more about getting heaven into you” (p. 21).  But why put this in a more-vs-less statement, rather than underlining the great importance of both?  Why this jab at Christians who give greater emphasis to the awesome reality of heaven?  What we don’t learn from Comer is how the hope of heaven fuels and encourages walking by faith in Christ today.  The reality of life beyond the grave, and the glories of the new heaven and new earth, are virtually absent from this vision of apprenticeship with Jesus.

I couldn’t help but notice the sharp contrast with another book I just read—Heavenward, by Cameron Cole, which has the subtitle:  How Eternity Can Change Your Life on Earth. Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress also comes to mind as a guide to the life of discipleship—but for Bunyan, the glorious, looming arrival at the Celestial City is prominent every step along the way in Christian’s journey.  By contrast, Comer seems averse to portraying the believer’s spectacular eternal future as a vital encouragement toward joyful obedience to Jesus today.

Second, although the punchy, provocative writing style makes for interesting reading, it also produces an array of false dichotomies and exaggerated depictions.  For example, Comer asserts, “As a general rule, we become more loving by experiencing love, not by hearing about it in a lecture or reading about it in a book” (p. 48).  But why set information against experience this way?  Why not affirm the positive value of learning through lectures or reading (including reading Scripture) as well as the importance of experiencing love?  Comer also contends, “God is not a concept or an emotion, and he’s certainly not a doctrine in a statement of faith or a chapter in a theology book; he is a person, whose burning desire is to know and be known by you” (p. 51).  Even though no one would disagree with Comer that God is not a “doctrine” or a “chapter” but rather a “person,” this is another instance where the importance of biblical truth is marginalized while experience is highlighted.  But why set them against each other?  A more balanced presentation would affirm the positive value of theological study while also underlining the urgency of trust and love for our personal God.

In a discussion about Enlightenment influences on Christianity, Comer states, “We can easily fall into a thoroughly unbiblical view of the human soul as a kind of brain on legs.” (p. 86).  He then quotes James K. A. Smith, who says, “You can’t think your way to Christlikeness.”  Even though these are valid points, they fall into a pattern in which Comer plays down information and learning over against spiritual experience.  The result is a caricature of Christian traditions which Comer challenges, and an imbalance within the model of spirituality he commends.

I’ll mention one more example (although I could name several others):  Comer notes, “As I said earlier, the gospel is not:  ‘If you believe in Jesus, you can go to the Good Place when you die’….  The gospel is that Jesus is the ultimate power in the universe and that life with him is now available to all” (p. 136).  But why must it be that the gospel “is not” the one and “is” the other?  This is a very reckless expression.  To be fair, in the paragraph following the above quotation, Comer does mention the life to come—that Jesus’ apprentices can be part of a community today that will “one day co-govern all creation with the Creator, in an eternity of ever-unfolding creativity and growth and joy” (p. 137).  Yes, here and there in the book the reality of the life to come is noted (e.g. on pp. 66-68 in a short section about remembering that you will die—but even there the emphasis is on not wasting the time we have in this life).  And so, the here-and-now focus of Comer’s perspective amounts to a prime example of unnecessary imbalances and false separations, a feature of the book that is most unfortunate.

I noticed as well that, for a book centered on what it means to follow Jesus, attention to the global mission of the church (i.e., to gather disciples from among all the people groups on earth, Matthew 28:18-20) was lacking.  It would have been more helpful to incorporate into the Rule of Life how prayer, giving, training, mobilizing, sending, and going to the unreached peoples of the world is central in our apprenticeship under Jesus Christ for the completion of the Great Commission.  But Comer seems to be focused on perceived deficiencies of American evangelicalism, and as a result he neglects to help believers open their eyes to God’s grand global cause and our urgent task to bring the hope of eternal life to the multitudes around the world who have no access to the good news of Jesus.

In the end, I would say it was rather jarring to read Practicing the Way—in the sense that, even though Comer offers many useful challenges to advance believers in a life of devotion to Jesus, those good thoughts are overshadowed by various incomplete portrayals and false dichotomies.  So I found myself agreeing … and then questioning … and affirming … and then jotting notes with rebuttals.  In the end, I would not recommend this book as a primary guide for discipleship and spiritual formation.  All in all, disappointing.