A thought-provoking exploration of Jesus' teachings, challenging readers to consider the radical implications of his words for contemporary Christian life. It offers valuable insights and prompts deep reflection.

I would like to thank Moody Publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I love the idea of devotionals but rarely get into them. I've bought many, by Keller and Spurgeon but even then I tend to drift off from reading them daily, and just dip into them when I feel compelled to.

This book was different, although I cannot say it is unique as there are others like it, but it had a focus. It was a brilliant was to look at Jesus's sermon on the mount. It put it into context, and also applied what Jesus was saying for today.

This book I think is suitable for those interested in the Christian faith, those new to it, and those who have been walking with the Lord for years. It's also a helpful resource for sermon preparation too.

The book challenges one to take what Jesus said seriously. Not to take his word as a cool soundbite, or to put onto a sticker, but to actually read it, think about it, and how it impacts you.

In a time of cancel culture, and trolling, this is an important reminder for Christians to love their enemies, to not judge others, and also to not worry. The last one here is challenging, especially as we are prone to worry, but this book helps one reflect on what Jesus says about these issues.

The only issue I had was how the book formatted on my kindle, but I have an old kindle so this may have been the problem.

I would recommend this book, and probably will suggest that my Church consider reading it.

I received an ARC from Moody Publishers via NetGalley, this review is my opinion.

What I like the most of this devotional book, is that confronts and uplift you at the same time. With a unique and peculiar in this 72 devotional, we find Jesus teaching from an in my opinion uncommon perspective. Skye Jethani demolishes many misunderstood bible verse and takes us in an eye open to see what they really mean and what is what God wants from us. I like that are short, well written, and also have bible verse to go a bit deeper. The only bad thing I will say is that I think that this book is for people who have some time being Christian, otherwise, it would be hard for them to understand and relate to what he said. But aside from that great book, I think this could also a great choice to shared with friends. I pray many could be blessed with this book.

This is a very well-written book on one of Jesus' most famous sermons, the Sermon on the Mount. I found this passage in Scripture coming alive to me in a new way. I especially liked the illustrations that began each short chapter. This is a great book to use as a daily devotional, as each chapter is short and to the point. Skye Jethani has a beautiful way of applying the ancient words of Jesus to this very time in our culture. If we as believers took Jesus' words seriously, I think we would see a great revival in our communities.

I know this is technically a devotional book, but it was so good, I read it all in less than a day. This book speaks Truth and holds nothing back!

This is a nice explainer on the sermon on the mount, but the illustration confuses me rather than helping so I tend to skip them. Really enjoyed the short devotional though.

5 stars for its everyday relevance. It is an easy read, great to have pictures in it. It is convicting and points you back to Jesus.

One important thing I learned from it was the new command that Jesus gave in John 15:12 -
“This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you”
I always read it as another version of - love your neighbour as yourself - but this really brought it home.
Jesus calls us to love as He loves, who can do that?!?! No one. To love like Jesus, we need Jesus, and Jesus has given Himself, His Holy Spirit to us, how mind-blowingly amazing. Thank you Lord!!

This book is a delightful change from the standard Christian devotional book. Skye Jethani is a popular author and podcast maven, known for his quick wit, along with a willingness to address problems in the American church and society in a frank and hard-hitting manner. Jethani apparently likes to doodle and draw out his theological thoughts on coffee shop napkins and office post-it notes. These charming yet illuminating drawings are featured in each of the short devotions that are drawn from the Sermon on the Mount. While the devotions are short and the drawings are entertaining, Jethani's thoughts reflect a deep thinker who is not happy with the status quo, and wants to challenge other Christians to get more serious about their walk with Christ.

Highly recommended!

A really well written and well designed book. The visual elements really help the reader to think more deeply about the material covered. Highly recommended.

I know Skye Jethani from his podcast https://www.holypost.com/podcasts. He seems to be thoughtful and considered and generally quite orthodox in his views. But he is also modern and a realist and can often also be quite insightful and this book is full of insight.

I’m sure there are a thousand commentaries on ‘The Sermon on the Mount’ and in many ways this is simply another one. But what sets it apart is twofold – first, in its striking challenge to take the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus seriously. And secondly, in the structure and form that the book takes.

As the title suggests, it isn’t simply a discussion on the Sermon on the Mount but it is a challenge to take it seriously, to see that Jesus wasn’t setting up some unattainable icon to allow us to consider how we might live a better life. This book points out that the Sermon on the Mount is a challenge to all of us in modern times who call ourselves Christians to do what Jesus actually taught – to love our enemies, to not judge others, to not worry – tough things to accomplish in any age, but understanding that these are commands and not suggestions raises quite a challenge.

In this book the author divides the Sermon on the Mount into nine distinct areas or subjects that it relates to. These parts are further divided into 72 short, manageable sections, with suggested, equally short, ‘further readings’. But what sets this book apart from many others is that each section commences with its own graphic or diagram that visually represents the area or idea that we are considering and illuminates the point of that section.

The unusual (or possibly exceptional) structure of this book allows us to progress through the Sermon on the Mount at whatever speed works for us – from a 72 day ‘devotional’ to a two hour review of the Sermon on the Mount whilst gaining in a new way, insight and understanding of what Jesus said.

When I receive an arc of this book, I started reading straight away on my kindle but because it was an arc copy, some text and images were out of alignment with no table of content. It was very hard to read so I stopped.
Just last week I picked it up again and started reading because I owe negalley and the publisher a review.

This book is amazing and thought-provoking in the way it was written. The writing was fantastic, and easy to understand and provided much info about the famous biblical figure Jesus, his teachings, and the insights and opinions of his teachings from the viewpoint of Skye, the author. It opened my eyes to what is true discipleship and what it means to obey God that I have never considered before with a fresh spin. I love the part pertaining to the Sermon on the Mount which pushes me to think out of the box and open my mind to the fact that my existing beliefs of it might be not entirely correct.

I also like that this book touches on social media and the cons of it in relation to what we believe and how we project ourselves to others which were spot on from the viewpoint of the author. And the wrong perception that if we are rich, healthy, and educated with a high flying career it means we are blessed by God. Likewise, if we are none of those things it doesn't mean that God had overlooked us and didn't bless us. Reading this portion at the beginning of the book led and reinforced me to keep in mind that we need to count our blessings no matter how small they are. And if we are faithful to God our blessings will bound to come one day in unexpected ways.

The illustrations are cute which lighten the intensity of this book making it more enjoyable to read.

A series of devotions on Jesus's sermon on the mount. But not the kind of devotions you're thinking. These daily reads will rock your boat (see Jesus walking on water up ahead). They'll leave you thinking. I thought this book was excellent.

This book was requested as an advanced-review copy from NetGalley. I’ve not read anything by this author before, so I had no idea what to expect, but the cover and the title instantly drew me in.

The book is written as a series of devotions based around the sermon on the mount, and although I read this book in a few sittings, I think it would probably have benefited from being read more slowly to give me more time to absorb and ponder on what I was reading, so perhaps one in the morning and one in the evening would have been a good pattern to follow.

As I started reading, I started to highlight passages of the book that I wanted to remember, but as I got a few chapters in I realised I was highlighting probably around 70% of the book, so I quickly had to revise that plan, but the truth is that so much of what was written just hit the nail right on the head.

We Christians have probably all read the Sermon on the Mount before, but have we ever really stopped to consider “What if Jesus was serious?”?. In this book, the author breaks the sermon down into bitesize pieces and reflects on what those meant in the time that Jesus preached them, but also what they mean for us now in our modern context which looks nothing like the same.

And as a modern Christian, it may or may not be a shock to find that everything that Jesus said back then sure stands up now too, and if we could just think about what Jesus said and try to live it out, we could make a mighty change to our world.

"We who claim to be Jesus’ followers and seek a life shaped by his Kingdom hold the antidote to the division and anger that is poisoning our culture."

The format of the book was excellent, as mentioned before it’s broken down into small chapters that wouldn’t take too long to read (although will definitely give you lots to ponder), and each chapter is started with a drawing designed to illustrate the authors point neatly and succinctly.

"While the world says the strong, powerful, and happy are “well off”, Jesus turns our expectations upside down by saying it’s the weak, sad, and overlooked who are well off in God’s kingdom."

I will say that unlike most devotionals that I’ve read in the past, this one isn’t designed to give you warm fuzzy feelings and set you up for a day of feeling like you’re the model Christian. This book will challenge you and make you think seriously about how you’re living and where you might be falling short.

I would whole-heartedly recommend this book to every Christian I know, with the caveat that it should not be rushed. Now I’ve finished and can see the immense value in the contents of these pages, I’ll be starting from the beginning and taking a slower journey.

I was going to add some more of my favourite quotes from the book here, but like I said earlier, there were just too many, so all I’ll say is go pick up this book when it’s released, you definitely won’t regret it!

I’m not the biggest fan of devotional but I have many in my life that are. I’m always looking for resources to encourage others. This book looked to be promising with a focus on illustrations but it had less illustrations than I had hoped. I like the topics covered and it provided some great content and wasn’t all fluff like most devotionals. It’s one I will keep in mind when recommending to others.

A great premise, and thoughtfully put together. A lot of both conviction and encouragement. A call to more fully believe and live out the words of Jesus.

Whether you are familiar with Skye's work or reading him for the first time, you will not be disappointed with "What If Jesus Was Serious?" This book consists of 72 short essays (chapters) on the Sermon on the Mount, one of Jesus' greatest discourses detailed in the gospel of Matthew. The brevity of each chapter lends the book to being read as a daily devotional. The visual component at the beginning of each chapter, the additional scripture references at the end of each chapter, and the compelling background information and thought-provoking questions Skye includes throughout the book make for a robust deep-dive into these particular teachings of Jesus. Your faith will be stretched, your life choices challenged, and your mind opened to look at the Sermon on the Mount in new ways. Just like mine was.
I received an e-arc from NetGalley in return for my honest opinion of this book.

I loved this devotional.

You may not think that's a significant statement, but if you continue reading, you'll realize how significant that statement really is because this was one of the last books that, at first glance, I would have chosen.

You see, I struggle with reading devotionals. When I try, I immediately forget what the devotion was about. It's not necessarily because the devotionals are bad. I often find them either superficial, overly theological, or just boring. I also struggle with reading books that do nothing but reword the exact same message every single day. I would much rather read a book, the Bible, or even a commentary. But not a devotional.

Needless to say, this book wasn't high on my reading priority list. But it wasn't just because it was a devotional. It was also written by someone who I had never heard of. Even more, the cover had doodling on it. "Great," I thought, "now someone had the bright idea to make a Jesus-version of 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid.'"

From my perspective, the only thing that it had going for it at first glace was the title. "What if Jesus was Serious? A Visual Guide to the Teachings of Jesus we Love to Ignore." If I had a list of only book titles to choose from, then this would have been at the top of my list. "Of course, we love to ignore Jesus' teachings," I thought. "We want a watered-down Christianity." And there are very few people willing to step out of the mold to say that this is not how it's meant to be.

Even so, this book has 3 reasons why I wouldn't pick it up. So I mentally put it in the “Maybe, if-there's-nothing-better-to-read” category.

After not finding anything else that grasped my curiosity, I reluctantly came back to this book to look at the description. The first thing I read was, “Daily Devotions for People Who Hate Daily Devotions.” That hit the nail on the head. I'll read it.

And I'm so glad I did.

Jethani uses the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) as the foundation for the entire book. Not only is this Jesus' longest discourse in the Bible, it also contains a lot of his hardest teachings, and teachings that the church considers hyperbole or exaggeration. Jethani walks us through the sermon verse by verse, idea by idea, and explains what it just might look like if we did take Jesus seriously. Not only what it might look like to the church, but what it might look like to the world.

Each devotional is so rich and powerful, it's almost as if every day is an entire sermon that was been into 3 minutes or less without forfeiting any of the quality of the original message. If anyone wants to do a series on the Sermon on the Mount, this book could easily be the outline for the series. All you would need to do is expand on it.

Every day, there is an illustration included to help visualize the principle of the devotional. Even though I was originally reluctant of these drawings, I've found them helpful. An idea, concept, thought, etc., tends to stick with you better when you learn it multiple ways.

But this book isn't for the feint of heart. Most devotionals that I've come across try to help you get through your day. They want to help you deal with your stress, help your marriage, help you become a better man or woman, help motivate or inspire you, or help you personalize your faith. This book is the complete opposite. Every day is a call-to-arms that cuts to your heart and soul. Jethani doesn't want you to feel good about yourself—he wants you to be transformed by the words of Christ.

I definitely rate this book a 5 out of 5. This is the single best devotional book that I've ever put into my hands. Western culture needs more books like these. Christianity needs more authors like Jethani.

Jesus intended to be taken seriously. He expects His followers to take him seriously. The world needs Christians to take Him seriously. So why do we teach that the New Testament is nothing more than the "Diary of a Wimpy Jesus"?

I've never heard about the author before this. But this book has quickly made him one of my favorites. I've since subscribed to his podcast and will continue to look out for anything of his that I can get my hands on. I only pray that his other books are this good.

Thank you, Skye Jethani, for writing this. Thank you, Moody Publishers, for printing this. This book is transforming my walk with the Lord, one day at a time.

What is Jesus was serious but skye Jethani is an awesome thought provoking read. This book will leave you encouraged and help you grow in faith.
The books description says:
Let’s face it. A lot of Christian resources can feel cheesy, out-of-touch, and a little boring. But when Skye Jethani started doodling and writing up some of his thoughts about God, his Twitter and email list blew up. What If Jesus Was Serious? is a compilation of all-new reflections (and hand-drawn doodles) from Skye. He takes a look at some of Jesus’ most demanding teachings in the Sermon on the Mount and pushes us to ask whether we’re really hearing what Christ is saying. The visual component of the book makes it memorable and enjoyable to read, and Skye’s incisive reflections make it worthwhile for any Christian. If you’ve traditionally been dissatisfied with Christian devotional resources but love to learn about Jesus and think deeply, this book was written for you.

What if Jesus was serious is a fantastic an easy read. It was divided into several sections that were easy to read and also gave you reference points to go back to in the Bible. It questions current ideologies of modern Christianity.

Skye Jethani gives readers plenty of food for thought in What If Jesus Was Serious? A Visual Guide to the Teachings of Jesus We Love to Ignore. Each chapter begins with a visual image that depicts that particular teaching, helping readers to grasp the main idea--and giving them something to teach to others what they themselves are learning. Plus, we all like visual images, don't we?

After presenting a visual image in each chapter, Jethani then purports, "If Jesus was serious, then. . . " and proceeds to help readers dig into God's Word and discover what Jesus really meant. More often than not, Jethani ends up helping readers do some positive deconstruction and positive reconstruction. For example, when Jethani addresses the beatitudes in Matthew 5, Jethani asks, "Who is really blessed?" and then purports that "If Jesus was serious. . . then we will focus more on his Good News and less on religious to-do's." Jethani goes on to describe how the beatitudes are not so much a prescription for behavior as much as they are a description of how Jesus followers behave because of the power of God at work changing their hearts.

This book is not for the faint of heart, but it is for those who don't mind being challenged or pushed to see things differently -- or to see things they may not have noticed before. For me it was a refreshing read by an author unafraid to get people to really think about what they believe and why. For me, What If Jesus Was Serious? included some familiar things, some new things, and some interesting things. If nothing else, I was challenged to dig deeper into God's Word, and I have a feeling that was part of Jethani's intention anyway!

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for this honest review. However, the opinions expressed are my own.