How To Be a Perfect Christian

How To Be a Perfect Christian (New York: Multnomah, 2018) 192 pp.

How To Be a Perfect Christian is a user manual for the spiritually motivated zealot. The subtitle perfectly expresses the inner longings of such a person: Your Comprehensive Guide to Flawless Spiritual Living.

In a mere 192 pages, the authors wonderfully capture the essence of the perfect Christian life. Step-by-step instructions are given that denote which church to attend, which music to listen to, which churches and movies to avoid, and the critical practices that don the ecclesiastical vita of the person seeking Christian perfection.

The authors admonish, “Keep the plates of self-righteousness spinning to prevent your carefully constructed facade from cracking.” This sentence cuts through all the satirical edginess that permeates the book and brings readers back to reality.

But in the final analysis, How To Be a Perfect Christian actually guides spiritual zealots away from self-righteousness and straight to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ: “Instead of faking smiles and completing checklists, the Christian life would be about beholding the unspeakable glory of the Creator and living to please Him and make Him known in a dying world.”

How To Be a Perfect Christian will make genuine Christ-followers laugh. It will prompt wide smiles. But it will also lead to deep reflection about the lengths many of us have gone to live in our own strength in order to merit favor in the eyes of a holy God. This book (despite all its silliness and wittiness) is a stern rebuke to anyone who is trapped by legalism. As such, it will anger the Pharisee. It will spur the Sadducee. And it will draw the ire of the religious fundamentalist. For these reasons, How To Be a Perfect Christian is a stunning success.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. @WaterBrookMultnomah #Partner”