Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer courtesy of https://www.practicingtheway.org
Practicing the Way (2024), by John Mark Comer, begins, “Who are you following? . . . The question isn’t, Am I a disciple? It’s, Who or what am I a disciple of?”
Known best for his New York Times bestseller, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, Comer writes with striking simplicity and clarity. He uses a conversational tone together with incisive theology, research, and pastoral insight. He pulls from a wide range of Christian traditions to demonstrate the centrality of following Jesus, especially through neglected spiritual practices.
Comer’s work is fresh, clear, modern, and accessible, all the while drawing heavily from the classics on the subject, like Richard Foster, while emphasizing ancient, traditional perspectives, like the Monastics. Practicing the Way is conversational, punchy, and gracious. Comer constantly uses lists to communicate the message—four steps, five reasons, three goals, etc., making for easy, practical reading.
So, what is the message of Practicing the Way?
Become followers, not “Christians”
The thesis is that Jesus, far from inviting us to merely “believe” in him, or “become Christians,” calls us to become followers, or apprentices of him. Christians must be Jesus’s students, through the Holy Spirit, by living according to his word and doing as he did (and does). The subtitle, “Be with Jesus. Become like him. Do as he did.” summarizes perfectly. How do we be, become, and do as apprentices of Jesus?
Jesus’ model for discipleship is given in the Gospels, and Comer unpacks this ancient method of apprenticing Jesus in Practicing the Way. Comer contributes to a much-needed “fresh” mindset for evangelicals (this “fresh” approach is really just biblical and reiterated through church history).
The mindset is this: “Jesus is not looking for converts to Christianity; he’s looking for apprentices in the kingdom of God.” As he starkly puts it, “Churches [are] full of people who are Christians but not apprentices of Jesus.”
Jesus said, “Follow me,” and told his disciples to “make disciples.” As Comer writes, reducing the gospel to, “believe in Jesus to go to heaven when you die” creates a “salvation by minimum entrance requirements.” Indeed, the Gospels emphasize the difference between the crowds and Jesus’s followers.
Which are you? A face in the crowd, or next to Jesus, an understudy of the Rabbi, doing as he does?
Grace-based formation, not works-based salvation
Before anyone gets concerned about a creeping works-based salvation or legalism, let me put you at ease. Comer emphasizes God’s grace throughout. But, “Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning.”
He summarizes in his characteristic conversational style, “Jesus is not a recruiter for WeWork, calling us to ‘hustle harder,’ but the good shepherd of Psalm 23, calling us to ‘lie down in green pastures.’”
Indeed, we become followers, we don’t follow until we earn enough merit to get into heaven—we either are saints, or we are not. That doesn’t change that follower implies living your life a certain way, it absolutely should.
Comer regularly points out that we are always following something or someone; “Spiritual formation isn’t a Christian thing, it’s a human thing.” Do you allow the World to form you, or Jesus?
Something forms us. Let’s choose to be formed by Jesus.
My personal conviction of prayer and meditation
This work personally convicted me in several areas. The most deeply impactful was in his drawing from a study that examined the journey of thousands of Christians in the US. The “critical journey” takes six steps:
- Recognition of God
- Life of discipleship
- Productive life
- Journey inward
- Journey outward
- Life of love
Unfortunately, in the West, we often run into a wall between stages 3 and 4. We live a productive life, recognizing God in our lives, and living as a Christian. We do not, however, press deeper into full submission through solitude, Christ-centered meditation, prayer, and spiritual attunement to the Spirit in a loving relationship with the Trinity.
Upon even a brief self-examination, I realized Henri Nouwen is right: “Without solitude, it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life.” At this point in my life, my rhythms do not grow me past the wall of “being a productive Christian” into deeper joy, and deeper spiritual connection with the trinitarian God.
Most Western Christians, including myself, can struggle with becoming formed into Jesus because we don’t see the clear, reliable path toward transformation. Comer’s goal is to rectify that ignorance.
I’ve believed in Jesus, I go to church, go to a bi-weekly Bible study, and serve every few Sundays.
Now what?
If you find yourself in the same place, pick up a copy of Practicing the Way.
Notable Quotes:
“Christlikeness is possible, but it is not natural.”
“I don’t know how to soften the blow: There is simply no way to follow Jesus without unhurrying your life.”
“Are you thinking, But I am a free spirit; I don’t like to be controlled! I hate to break it to you, but: You are being controlled, by your addiction to your phone, the appetites of your body for pleasures… The Choice is yours: Rule, or be ruled.”
“Our job isn’t to ‘save’ people; it’s to say with the Apostle John, ‘We have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you’ that ‘the life was manifested.’”
“Church attendance, good sermons, and regular Bible studies are all good—more than good, essential. But we must be honest: By themselves, they have a very poor track record of yielding a high level of transformation in large numbers of people.”
“Love is the acid test of spiritual formation.” “The iron of our ‘be true to yourself’ culture is that everyone ends up looking the same. As it turns out, sin is incredibly cliché.
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