Book Review: The Gospel of Yes by Mike Glenn

I received The Gospel of Yes by Mike Glenn for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. 

The Gospel of Yes by Mike Glenn seeks to be a book that encourages people that "when you live in God's 'yes' you find your identity, your true value, and your unique purpose on earth.  You can stop trying to be someone else and enjoy being yourself as you join with God in doing the work of his kingdom.  When God leads you, he always says yes.  It's time to live like you know it." (from the back cover).

I am always interested in reading books about calling/vocation too see what people have to say about the topic, and in this book Glenn gives some valuable advice and has some good insight, such as when he offers the idea that God sending Adam & Eve out of the garden was done in sadness and tears and not anger (p. 52), or when he suggests that perhaps we need to emphasize the word "child" instead of the phrase "on the way the child should go" in the well-known Proverbs verse "start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it" in order to to see the child as a unique individual with a calling from God (p. 189).  

I also especially enjoyed his chapter on destiny, and his statement that "Destiny is not a fixed outcome for your life.  There is no act of fate at work.  Instead, I use the term to describe the invitation you and I have as believers to be involved in the redemptive work of Christ in his world.  We have been asked to join God's work of reconciling the world" (page 143).  

While there were a couple of times I thought Glenn contradicted himself or wasn't clear, and there were a few things I'd probably quibble with theologically, overall I thought it was a decent book, targeted towards people who are just starting to wonder what it is that God may be calling them to do.  It does have the feel of a series of sermons, which is not surprising, given that Glenn is the senior pastor of a church.  I can see myself using quotations in this book in future blog posts of my own as a starting point or as backup to something I'd like to say.  In other words, it isn't a book that will just sit on my shelf now that I am done reading it.