Getting Over Yourself (a book review)

 Getting Over Yourself by Dean Inserra; subtitled "Trading Believe-in-Yourself Religion for Christ-Centered Christianity"

Inserra has written this to discuss a problem that he has seen in many modern churches: the "Instagramification" of Christianity, with "trendy pastors who preach a message of personal success, betterment, and victory" who are social media celebrities, which "allows one to have a theistic source of faith and an emotional connection to Jesus without the demands of biblical discipleship and conduct." (pp.12-13) He refers to it as "pop-Christianity" or "new prosperity theology" that has replaced rags-to-riches and immediate healing with God-sized dreams and visions and achieving "God's best" while ignoring the tough parts of Scripture.

Inserra does a good job showing the problems with "pop-Christianity" from different angles, looking at what it is, where it came from, and what it is doing, all the while comparing its teachings to Scripture. He looks as the dangers of being gospel and doctrine-lite and trying for church growth through pragmatism (what you draw them with is what you draw them to, so if you're not drawing them with Christ, you're not drawing them to Christ). He shows how Scripture is being misused in these churches and by these teachers to encourage self-fulfillment instead of being disciples, and he does it while pointing clearly to the gospel. 

At the same time, he does not deny that God has a plan for our lives or that His plan is good and amazing; the problem is that His plan isn't necessarily what we think it is and it was never meant to focus on us (or to encourage us to focus on ourselves). Inserra isn't making Christianity into drudgery or something boring, but shows that it is actually bigger then we imagine when we make it about ourselves.

In the final chapter, he points to how we can have abundant life in Christ: Ask God to help you be gospel-centered; by grade, through Scripture, seek to increase your knowledge of God; pursue the ordinary life; find godly community; and pray for willingness to be marginalized.

Getting Over Yourself  is written in a simple, straight-forward way that is accessible for anyone.

"I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this

review."