44th out of 203 books
—
254 voters
Messy Spirituality: God's Annoying Love for Imperfect People
'I Guess I'm Not a Very Good Christian . . .'Do you feel like: I don't pray enoughI don't read my Bible enoughI don't share my faith enoughI don't love God enoughI'm not committed enoughI'm not spiritual enoughThen this book is for you. Messy Spiritualtiy was written for the silent majority of us who have been convinced that we just don't do Christianity right. We spend mo...more
Hardcover, 144 pages
Published
March 1st 2002
by Zondervan Publishing Company
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I tried.
The author started with a really good point: People who screw up or break the church's code of conduct can still be just as fiercely "spiritual" or God-centered as the Pastor.
*applause*
My problem is, he didn't get any deeper than that. The whole book reiterates that sentence in various paragraph forms. At first I was just annoyed by the repetition, but then I got a little worried because his over-emphasis of how much "Godly people" can screw up started to sound like he was allowing sin...more
The author started with a really good point: People who screw up or break the church's code of conduct can still be just as fiercely "spiritual" or God-centered as the Pastor.
*applause*
My problem is, he didn't get any deeper than that. The whole book reiterates that sentence in various paragraph forms. At first I was just annoyed by the repetition, but then I got a little worried because his over-emphasis of how much "Godly people" can screw up started to sound like he was allowing sin...more
It's really powerful to read a book about 'not-so-encouraging' stories...but rather, stories of real struggling christians that remind you are not the most wicked sinner that has ever existed, but as them you are been transformed daily by your relationship with Jesus.
I think what hit me the most was Yaconelli's own account of repenting many times about a certain misbehavior, and stressing that he honestly 'really and decisively repented before the Lord, each and every time he did', before misbeh...more
I think what hit me the most was Yaconelli's own account of repenting many times about a certain misbehavior, and stressing that he honestly 'really and decisively repented before the Lord, each and every time he did', before misbeh...more
Feb 05, 2009
Lisa
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Christians
Recommended to Lisa by:
Caleb Magnino
This books was an easy read, but packed full of so many things I needed to hear.
I’m not sure what is being said about Yaconelli these days (probably not much seeing as how he’s been dead a few years). I remember hearing a few things a couple years ago about the organization he co-founded, Youth Specialties, and the role it was playing in the “emergent church”. Whatever. I just remember reading his other book, Dangerous Wonder in college and getting a lot out of it. This other book has been sitt...more
I’m not sure what is being said about Yaconelli these days (probably not much seeing as how he’s been dead a few years). I remember hearing a few things a couple years ago about the organization he co-founded, Youth Specialties, and the role it was playing in the “emergent church”. Whatever. I just remember reading his other book, Dangerous Wonder in college and getting a lot out of it. This other book has been sitt...more
I first heard of this book in church, a lay pastor at our church read a quote from this book during his sermon, and I was hooked...had to get the book, ordered it from Amazon.com. Just hit me head on...
talks about how spirituality does not necessarily fit into this nice handly little mold we like to think it does...it can take many shapes and forms.
This is the part he quoted...
"My life is a mess.
After forty-five yeras of trying to follow Jesus, I keep losing him in the crowded busyness of my li...more
talks about how spirituality does not necessarily fit into this nice handly little mold we like to think it does...it can take many shapes and forms.
This is the part he quoted...
"My life is a mess.
After forty-five yeras of trying to follow Jesus, I keep losing him in the crowded busyness of my li...more
Messy Spirituality is sort of like Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz. It hits Christians where it hurts in terms of their own spirituality. I'll be honest I'm a Christian, but I haven't read the Bible. I also don't pray every day like I should. I try and sometimes I get a good week going, but then I just forget. Its almost like life hits me and I just can't do anything to stop it. This book made me feel better about my doubts and my beliefs. It was written by a guy who went through the same thing t...more
It's not "deep" in the sense that it reveals incredible and profound thought. It is a conversation with the reader, asking them to rethink their perspective of what christian faith being walked out looks like.... not just in others but in themselves. So often we find ourselves listening to speakers, reading books etc that focus on the mountaintop experiences of all believers through history and miss the reality that they did not spend their life there. Their lives were emotional, filled with the...more
We are always under construction. That sentence is really the best one-line summary of this book. This book embraces that concept - and explores the true meaning of what it means to “be spiritual.”
Mike Yaconelli died in 2003, and I think one of the most powerful parts of the book was the foreward written by his wife. She gives us a glimpse of what kind of man Mike was - incredibly real. A man of deep faith, and at the same time a man living in the trenches of life. It is out of that framework th...more
Mike Yaconelli died in 2003, and I think one of the most powerful parts of the book was the foreward written by his wife. She gives us a glimpse of what kind of man Mike was - incredibly real. A man of deep faith, and at the same time a man living in the trenches of life. It is out of that framework th...more
Mike Yaconelli's Messy Spirituality teaches us how to slow down and focus on the things that truly matter, and it forcefully declares how we have been accepted by God through Jesus Christ. As we assimilate this acceptance, it becomes the most liberating piece of knowledge we could ever possess. It effectively demonstrates how our messes are merely opportunities for God to work in us and through us for Christ to be seen.
this one was a quick read. i can't even remember the last time i read a book in one sitting...
this book resonated with me because i have (and for the most part continue to) had a messy life. while i've gained much greater knowledge and understanding of my "mess" over the years, it seems that i'm never on top of things as much as i'd like to be--especially in my spiritual life. i often feel inadequate, like i'm not doing enough. this book was a great reminder that my awareness that i can't ever *...more
this book resonated with me because i have (and for the most part continue to) had a messy life. while i've gained much greater knowledge and understanding of my "mess" over the years, it seems that i'm never on top of things as much as i'd like to be--especially in my spiritual life. i often feel inadequate, like i'm not doing enough. this book was a great reminder that my awareness that i can't ever *...more
Really love this book. My favorite quote:
"It is the incongruence and the oddness of our disjointed spirituality that ought to characterize every church. For God so loved the world, that whosoever believes in him will, from that point on, be considered weird by the rest of the world, which means the church should be more like a zoo than a tomb of identical mummies."
"It is the incongruence and the oddness of our disjointed spirituality that ought to characterize every church. For God so loved the world, that whosoever believes in him will, from that point on, be considered weird by the rest of the world, which means the church should be more like a zoo than a tomb of identical mummies."
Before Yaconelli's death, he served as the founder of Youth Specialties, a pastor, and a popular conference speaker. He was incredibly authentic and had a deep desire to love God and other people. His heart is certainly conveyed in the pages of this book.
However, I find Yaconelli's view of discipleship / sanctification / spiritual formation to be small and uninspiring. It boils down to this: "God's love for you is wonderful, and life is hard. So your Christian growth will be hard and messy, and...more
However, I find Yaconelli's view of discipleship / sanctification / spiritual formation to be small and uninspiring. It boils down to this: "God's love for you is wonderful, and life is hard. So your Christian growth will be hard and messy, and...more
There were some good points and moments in this book, but it read to me like one ongoing diatribe. I found that the author liked to take the exception and make it the rule, and too many times what he said just wasn't accurate. (For example, in one of the final chapters of the book, he writes that Jesus really didn't do much while He was on the earth. That he avoided crowds, healed a few people and was done. Talk about oversimplification!) One of the things that ticked me off was that his most po...more
My home study group decided we'd read this book as a group and discuss it along the way. Each week we met we listened together as either a tape narrated the book as we followed along or a member (me) read it aloud. We sometimes stopped the reading for discussion, that wasn't always in agreement with the author... But over all what we realized is that culturally speaking there is a certain " togetherness" Christians are viewed as having obtained. What Yaconelli is stating and illustrating through...more
Good book but he was at his best when he was speaking.
Have a listen.
http://www.youthspecialties.com/yacon...
Have a listen.
http://www.youthspecialties.com/yacon...
This book had a great message, which all Christians should hear more. That is, its okay to mess up and sin, God still loves you. However, he never went into more depth. He just kept talking about messing up, but it was almost like go and try and mess up to see the real Jesus. I think he could have mentioned godliness more and how--even when we mess up--we strive to be like Jesus.
I also wished for more depth to the stories, but he left it shallow and a little feel-good. Refreshing book with a di...more
I also wished for more depth to the stories, but he left it shallow and a little feel-good. Refreshing book with a di...more
While I wouldn't say this novel has completely changed my life, it has transformed my thinking about what Christianity looks like. Mike Yaconelli does a fantastic job of tearing down all the rules and regulations we place in front of a true, meaningful relationship with God. And when we do that, we realize a relationship with Jesus is messy and complicated and so far from perfect. But through that mess, we find the true meaning behind God's perfect love for us.
Some of it, I didn't totally agree...more
Some of it, I didn't totally agree...more
At a dinner last year the topic of life changing books came up. Given the intimate company, I took care to note them all but have since, sadly, left most of them simply lingering on my to-read list. Of these books, I just finished Messy Spirituality by Michael Yaconelli. The actual book recommended had been Dangerous Wonder, but the premise and structure of this earlier book by the same author was less appealing to me (based on reviews), so I opted for Messy Spirituality. Both are rated 4.5 star...more
People are messy; not just in a in a physical sense, but emotionally and spiritually as well. It seems that we often find ourselves doing what we should not do while disregarding the things we should do. And in the end, all we are left with is the mess of our failures and the guilt of our mistakes. It’s just an unfortunate part of life that may leave us questioning whether we are good enough for God to love.
And the ultimate answer to that question, according to author Mike Yaconelli, is “no.” We...more
And the ultimate answer to that question, according to author Mike Yaconelli, is “no.” We...more
I give thanks to God for this book.
Mike Yaconelli has written a wonderful exploration into the practicalities of grace. It is an easy read, filled with vivid stories and written for the laity. There are so many books on spiritual formation including a plethora written in the last couple of decades. Sadly, the most popular ones pay lip service to God's grace while subtly seducing the reader into a righteousness based upon works. Our calling in life, these books suggest, is to make God happy. Yaco...more
Mike Yaconelli has written a wonderful exploration into the practicalities of grace. It is an easy read, filled with vivid stories and written for the laity. There are so many books on spiritual formation including a plethora written in the last couple of decades. Sadly, the most popular ones pay lip service to God's grace while subtly seducing the reader into a righteousness based upon works. Our calling in life, these books suggest, is to make God happy. Yaco...more
I have, the last number of years of my life, understood life to be messy. I think, as a young adult I believed that life is orderly, or at least can be ordered by belief and will. But events in my life have destroyed that order and made me a broken human being. Because I once believed that life could be orderly, that to be a mess in life was to somehow, at the same time, be faithless or disobedient. At least less than perfect, because those who believe in orderliness become too easily, perfectio...more
I had forgotten that I read this book over the summer. Yeah...not very memorable. It has a good premise--we are not perfect, we all sin (some more than others). We can still be a "spiritual" people. Unfortunately, the book doesn't get any deeper than that. And where is the focus on the atonement? Oh...and let's not make excuses for our sinning. This wasn't an LDS book, just Christian. It was basic and had some good points, but I obviously had some frustration while reading it.
Yaconelli is sorely missed. This book gives a good picture into the kind of man Mike was, the lives he touched, and the way that Grace washed over everything he did. Mike takes a simple concept and through story after story demonstrates why we should never work too hard to hide our messes... God can work and turn them into something beautiful, but only after we've been honest and transparent in our relationships with Him and with others.
Romans 12:2 warns against allowing the world to squeeze us into a particular pattern, a box that doesn’t let the Light in and keeps us from real living. Yaconelli recognizes that not only are we in danger of the world trying to make us into what the world wants us to be: we are also in danger of well-meaning Christians and churches trying to squeeze everybody into one-size-fits-all patterns of spirituality. This small book says big things about what it means to walk with God in the Spirit.
Jul 13, 2009
Jared
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
EVERYONE!!!
Recommended to Jared by:
Niki Nowell
If you want to understand God's love for you and feel fine with Him being ever near to you in the midst of whatever is going on (including your failures, sins and disappointments), then this is the book for you.
My following of Jesus was forever changed in the most positive of ways by this book, and yours will be too, if you read it. Now that I've finished, I'm starting on through it again. Yes, it is that good.
My following of Jesus was forever changed in the most positive of ways by this book, and yours will be too, if you read it. Now that I've finished, I'm starting on through it again. Yes, it is that good.
Jan 06, 2010
Dylan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who wants to walk in the way of jesus
Shelves:
christianity-asides
Rather than give you a straight forward review, let me tell you this:
This book clocks in at around 140 pages. That's a day read for me, maybe two if I take it slow.
The first time I read it, it took me a month... because I had to stop every few pages to let the words sink in as my tears came out.
Life is messy, but Grace isn't afraid to get itself dirty.
This book clocks in at around 140 pages. That's a day read for me, maybe two if I take it slow.
The first time I read it, it took me a month... because I had to stop every few pages to let the words sink in as my tears came out.
Life is messy, but Grace isn't afraid to get itself dirty.
The Christian walk is messy – yet grace hides around every corner. Yaconelli contends that Christians spend too much time faking spirituality and churches are often more concerned with pretending that everything is ok than living the faith in all its vulnerability and pain. Walking through the gospel accounts (especially John), Yaconelli offers an account of discipleship that acknowledges the pain, ignorance, and weakness of disciples, yet celebrates the “annoying” tenacity of God’s love and gra...more
This book speaks to the messiness of my own spiritual journey - to all the starts and stops; peaks and valleys; joys and sorrows; certainties and uncertainties. It speaks to all of us who are pretty sure we fail more often than we succeed at being "holy". Thank you Mr. Yaconelli for being open enough to share your own fallabilities that we might be empowered to share ours with others.
Feb 24, 2009
Lizzy B
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
spirituality,
people-understanding-type-books
Challenging to the extreme, pertinent to the situations and predjudices one faces in church so often that one really shouldn't, and uplifting speaking encouragingly about the fact life is messy but we will get through. This book lays out exemplary christian life based on the unexpected ways Jesus dealt with situations and the principles we can apply from these (although not TOO religiously to the point of missing grace). This book had tears streaming down my face both of sadness and of happiness...more
Interesting read. Well worth it especially if you have doubts. Raises lots of questions. For me, the author didn't present a different view of Jesus than the one I grew up with. I had some problems with his thesis, as far as "balance" is concerned, but as we are all individuals, I won't foist my objections here.
Sep 10, 2011
Trina
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
new/struggling christians
Shelves:
help-yourself
Initially, Yaconelli has a wonderful point to make regarding our society and it's impression of how Christians should live VS how they really are. Unfortunately that is all he has to say. This point is repeated and beaten to death. Where the flow of the book should turn a corner, it just keeps on driving home the initial point.
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“Spirituality is a mixed-up, topsy-turvy, helter-skelter godliness that turns our lives into an upside-down toboggan ride of unexpected turns, surprise bumps and bone shattering crashes ... a life ruined by a Jesus who loves us right into his arms.”
—
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Feb 02, 2013 11:41am