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The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything
Spiritual discernment is a key theme in the Scriptures. From the Garden when Adam and Eve turned away from the simplest terms of a relationship with God, to the Garden when John the Apostle wrote the book of Revelation to a distracted people anticipating eternity, discerning God has been the heart of the matter. In modern times, however, we have forgotten the basic premise of practicing a preference for God, out of which we then are invited to live for God. Instead, we have implanted strategic planning, head-to-head battling, and will-of-God knowing in its place. In The Discerning Life , Stephen A. Macchia seeks to upend the one-eyed and limited Christian understandings of spiritual discernment and invite readers and leaders to reconsider how they prioritize the care of their souls, the grace of their communities, and the mission of their lives, churches, and organizations. When we have a fuller understanding of how spiritual discernment matters to the whole of our lives, we will in turn encourage others to follow likewise and then lean fully into the mission, mandate, and message of the whole counsel of God.
- GenresChristian Living
320 pages, Paperback
Published March 15, 2022
36 people are currently reading
86 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 26, 2022
I admit I only caught about half of what I heard. I blame my commute and thinking about work distracting me. That being said, the half I did catch was ok. Half of it hit the target, the rest missed by quite a bit. Definitely needs to be re-listened to, as I missed too much and want to try to catch more of it.
Narrator had a good, clear voice, which helped.
3, needs a re-listen, stars.
My thanks to Zondervan and libro.fm for an eAudio copy of this book to listen to and review.
Narrator had a good, clear voice, which helped.
3, needs a re-listen, stars.
My thanks to Zondervan and libro.fm for an eAudio copy of this book to listen to and review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
November 11, 2022Practical. Good book on spiritual practices that lead to discernment, which is less of a single decision and more of a walking with the divine. Very much from an evangelical lens - really missed opportunities to discuss the implications of the communal living he espouses, particularly what it calls of us as we seek to love our neighbor.
Ultimately, the book wasn’t quite a home run for me. But I still appreciate it and am thankful for what it offers.
Ultimately, the book wasn’t quite a home run for me. But I still appreciate it and am thankful for what it offers.
March 10, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley for providing a pre-release version. Thank you to Zondervan for providing the resources to allow pre-readers to do a "reading retreat." Thank you to the author for providing the additional information available through the retreat.
To the reader, if you have the time, take the opportunity to listen to the Season 17 podcast done by the author and another LTI leader at https://www.leadershiptransformations.... I found the podcasts to be very helpful. They were not a repetition of the book, but instead were a great discussion of different ways to think about and apply the ideas present in the book. They are well worth your time.
I have been a person of faith for a long time. What this book has done is to challenge me to become more aware of the extent to which I prevent my own progress in the faith. I have found a great many ideas that I need to continue to implement well.
What I appreciate about this book is that it assumes that you know a couple of things about following God. And then it shows you that even the things you thought you knew were probably wrong. I have come away from reading this book feeling inspired to do more to know God. To do more to listen for His guidance. To be intentional about what I do and how I pray to better see and experience the love of, grace of, and direction of God in my life.
There is a LOT of content in this book. I think it is best experienced when you take the time to think through what is being said and you take the time to think through the questions. There is too much in the book to be able to understand everything on one reading. But I think everyone who is interested in a spiritual life will take away several ideas of things they can immediately seek to import into his or her life. Whether it is doing community more deliberately, listening to others better, stopping to consider that God is trying to direct you whenever anything unusual happens, using Lectio Divina, beginning to open your heart to people who are not in your closest circle, or learning how to rest in God's love, there is something for you. It's not the same as what is for me now, and it's probably not the same as it will be if you look at this book in a year. But there will be something.
The book includes theology and theory. But it also has suggestions of practical steps that can be taken to implement an idea. It is neither too heady nor a workbook. It strikes the right balance of what one could do and what you can do to start (or get deeper).
Recommended for all who want to know God more and who want to better hear and understand His direction in your life.
To the reader, if you have the time, take the opportunity to listen to the Season 17 podcast done by the author and another LTI leader at https://www.leadershiptransformations.... I found the podcasts to be very helpful. They were not a repetition of the book, but instead were a great discussion of different ways to think about and apply the ideas present in the book. They are well worth your time.
I have been a person of faith for a long time. What this book has done is to challenge me to become more aware of the extent to which I prevent my own progress in the faith. I have found a great many ideas that I need to continue to implement well.
What I appreciate about this book is that it assumes that you know a couple of things about following God. And then it shows you that even the things you thought you knew were probably wrong. I have come away from reading this book feeling inspired to do more to know God. To do more to listen for His guidance. To be intentional about what I do and how I pray to better see and experience the love of, grace of, and direction of God in my life.
There is a LOT of content in this book. I think it is best experienced when you take the time to think through what is being said and you take the time to think through the questions. There is too much in the book to be able to understand everything on one reading. But I think everyone who is interested in a spiritual life will take away several ideas of things they can immediately seek to import into his or her life. Whether it is doing community more deliberately, listening to others better, stopping to consider that God is trying to direct you whenever anything unusual happens, using Lectio Divina, beginning to open your heart to people who are not in your closest circle, or learning how to rest in God's love, there is something for you. It's not the same as what is for me now, and it's probably not the same as it will be if you look at this book in a year. But there will be something.
The book includes theology and theory. But it also has suggestions of practical steps that can be taken to implement an idea. It is neither too heady nor a workbook. It strikes the right balance of what one could do and what you can do to start (or get deeper).
Recommended for all who want to know God more and who want to better hear and understand His direction in your life.
July 21, 2022
I appreciate Macchia’s attempt to systematically implement a way of discernment in faith that can be easily replicated within ministries and churches to create healthier environments. Macchia also has sound theology that doesn’t get too in the weeds and alienate certain denominations, so his methods can be easily duplicated within a variety of contexts.
I found the book to be very repetitive. I know that, ultimately, discernment is a repetitive process that should consider each of the factors that are given separate chapters, but I found that the chapters were, at times, very loosely following the theme the chapter was meant to cover. I also felt, as someone who isn’t involved day to day in vocational ministry, that some of this book wasn’t really written specifically for me and this attributed to my interest in the book waning as time went by.
Overall, if you’re someone just getting started in full time ministry and looking to “practice a preference for God” then this book is for you. If you’re like me and don’t fall into that category, the book has some redeeming aspects, but could be a book that you’ll find yourself pushing to get through.
I found the book to be very repetitive. I know that, ultimately, discernment is a repetitive process that should consider each of the factors that are given separate chapters, but I found that the chapters were, at times, very loosely following the theme the chapter was meant to cover. I also felt, as someone who isn’t involved day to day in vocational ministry, that some of this book wasn’t really written specifically for me and this attributed to my interest in the book waning as time went by.
Overall, if you’re someone just getting started in full time ministry and looking to “practice a preference for God” then this book is for you. If you’re like me and don’t fall into that category, the book has some redeeming aspects, but could be a book that you’ll find yourself pushing to get through.
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February 3, 2026Discernment as Relationship and Transformation
An Academic Review of The Discerning Life by Stephen A. Macchia
Stephen A. Macchia, The Discerning Life: Living a Life of Discernment. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2021.
Stephen A. Macchia’s The Discerning Life offers a significant corrective to contemporary Christian approaches that treat spiritual discernment as a technique for decision-making or a means to secure desired outcomes. Against such instrumental models, Macchia insists that discernment is fundamentally a way of life shaped by attentiveness to God’s abiding presence. His central claim—that discernment precedes knowing God’s will—reorients the discussion away from results and toward relational faithfulness.
This review affirms the theological strength of Macchia’s retrieval while engaging critically with its limits, particularly in relation to classical traditions that understand discernment as inseparable from illumination, purification, and union with God.
Discernment Before Decision
Macchia’s most important contribution lies in his insistence that discernment is not primarily about determining what to do but about learning how to live attentively before God. God’s presence, he argues, is never absent; the problem is human inattentiveness. Discernment, therefore, is not the reception of new divine information but the cultivation of a posture capable of recognizing what is already given.
His use of Luke 24 (the Emmaus road narrative) illustrates this claim powerfully. Christ walks with the disciples long before they recognize him. Their failure to discern is not caused by divine silence but by inner distraction and grief. Recognition occurs retrospectively—through hospitality, shared presence, and the breaking of bread. Discernment here is not an extraordinary spiritual event but a gradual awakening to a reality already present.
This interpretation effectively challenges functional, outcome-oriented spirituality. Discernment is not a shortcut to certainty but a formation of perception.
Discernment as Relational Attentiveness
Throughout the book, Macchia emphasizes that discernment is relational rather than cognitive. The heart of discernment is not “knowing what to do” but “being with God.” Practices such as attentiveness, listening, silence, and hospitality are meant to foster a life that consistently orients itself toward God’s presence. His phrase “practicing a preference for God” aptly captures this orientation: discernment arises from desire shaped over time rather than from isolated moments of inquiry.
From my own theological perspective, this emphasis is both compelling and necessary. It rightly resists reducing discernment to problem-solving and recalls a more contemplative understanding of Christian life—one in which dwelling in God precedes acting for God.
A Theological Tension: Relationship Without Union?
The primary point of critical dialogue emerges at this juncture. While Macchia repeatedly affirms that discernment is relational, he intentionally avoids framing discernment in terms of union with God. The book emphasizes presence, companionship, and attentiveness, yet refrains from articulating how such presence effects deep transformation of the self.
In classical Christian spiritual theology—particularly within Eastern Christian traditions and mystical texts such as The Cloud of Unknowing—discernment is inseparable from a dynamic process of illumination and purification. God’s presence does not merely accompany; it exposes, judges, cleanses, and reorders desire. Union with God is not simply relational proximity but a costly process involving suffering, unlearning, and the dismantling of self-centered will.
By contrast, The Discerning Life largely bypasses explicit engagement with purification, purgation, or the painful dimensions of transformation. This omission may reflect a pastoral sensitivity to evangelical audiences, yet it also risks presenting discernment primarily as an experiential or relational comfort rather than a cruciform path of conversion.
Discernment in Community: Hospitality and Empathy
One of the book’s strongest sections is its insistence that discernment is communal rather than individualistic. Macchia’s discussions of hospitality and empathy rightly portray discernment as something practiced within relationships, not apart from them. Discernment unfolds through welcoming others, listening deeply, and resisting judgment.
Here the book opens space for further theological development. To welcome those whom God places in one’s life—especially those who disrupt comfort or preference—can itself be understood as a concrete form of openness to God. In this sense, communal discernment is not merely ethical but participatory: openness to others becomes an enacted trust in God’s sovereign ordering of one’s life.
Process Without Mechanism
Macchia describes discernment as non-mechanical yet structured, identifying practices such as questioning, prayer, reflection, and communal confirmation. His insistence that faithfulness to the process matters more than immediate clarity is pastorally wise and theologically sound. Still, structure remains genuinely non-mechanical only when it is embedded within a deeper narrative of inner transformation. Without such grounding, even flexible processes risk becoming procedural.
Conclusion
The Discerning Life successfully retrieves discernment from instrumental and outcome-driven spirituality and re-centers it within attentiveness, presence, and trust. It offers a compelling vision of Christian life oriented toward communion rather than control.
At the same time, the book leaves open a critical theological question: whether relational attentiveness alone is sufficient, or whether discernment must also be framed within the classical movement toward purification and union with God. Read in this light, Macchia’s work functions best as a threshold text—inviting readers away from control and toward communion, while leaving room for deeper engagement with the transformative cost of that communion.
An Academic Review of The Discerning Life by Stephen A. Macchia
Stephen A. Macchia, The Discerning Life: Living a Life of Discernment. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2021.
Stephen A. Macchia’s The Discerning Life offers a significant corrective to contemporary Christian approaches that treat spiritual discernment as a technique for decision-making or a means to secure desired outcomes. Against such instrumental models, Macchia insists that discernment is fundamentally a way of life shaped by attentiveness to God’s abiding presence. His central claim—that discernment precedes knowing God’s will—reorients the discussion away from results and toward relational faithfulness.
This review affirms the theological strength of Macchia’s retrieval while engaging critically with its limits, particularly in relation to classical traditions that understand discernment as inseparable from illumination, purification, and union with God.
Discernment Before Decision
Macchia’s most important contribution lies in his insistence that discernment is not primarily about determining what to do but about learning how to live attentively before God. God’s presence, he argues, is never absent; the problem is human inattentiveness. Discernment, therefore, is not the reception of new divine information but the cultivation of a posture capable of recognizing what is already given.
His use of Luke 24 (the Emmaus road narrative) illustrates this claim powerfully. Christ walks with the disciples long before they recognize him. Their failure to discern is not caused by divine silence but by inner distraction and grief. Recognition occurs retrospectively—through hospitality, shared presence, and the breaking of bread. Discernment here is not an extraordinary spiritual event but a gradual awakening to a reality already present.
This interpretation effectively challenges functional, outcome-oriented spirituality. Discernment is not a shortcut to certainty but a formation of perception.
Discernment as Relational Attentiveness
Throughout the book, Macchia emphasizes that discernment is relational rather than cognitive. The heart of discernment is not “knowing what to do” but “being with God.” Practices such as attentiveness, listening, silence, and hospitality are meant to foster a life that consistently orients itself toward God’s presence. His phrase “practicing a preference for God” aptly captures this orientation: discernment arises from desire shaped over time rather than from isolated moments of inquiry.
From my own theological perspective, this emphasis is both compelling and necessary. It rightly resists reducing discernment to problem-solving and recalls a more contemplative understanding of Christian life—one in which dwelling in God precedes acting for God.
A Theological Tension: Relationship Without Union?
The primary point of critical dialogue emerges at this juncture. While Macchia repeatedly affirms that discernment is relational, he intentionally avoids framing discernment in terms of union with God. The book emphasizes presence, companionship, and attentiveness, yet refrains from articulating how such presence effects deep transformation of the self.
In classical Christian spiritual theology—particularly within Eastern Christian traditions and mystical texts such as The Cloud of Unknowing—discernment is inseparable from a dynamic process of illumination and purification. God’s presence does not merely accompany; it exposes, judges, cleanses, and reorders desire. Union with God is not simply relational proximity but a costly process involving suffering, unlearning, and the dismantling of self-centered will.
By contrast, The Discerning Life largely bypasses explicit engagement with purification, purgation, or the painful dimensions of transformation. This omission may reflect a pastoral sensitivity to evangelical audiences, yet it also risks presenting discernment primarily as an experiential or relational comfort rather than a cruciform path of conversion.
Discernment in Community: Hospitality and Empathy
One of the book’s strongest sections is its insistence that discernment is communal rather than individualistic. Macchia’s discussions of hospitality and empathy rightly portray discernment as something practiced within relationships, not apart from them. Discernment unfolds through welcoming others, listening deeply, and resisting judgment.
Here the book opens space for further theological development. To welcome those whom God places in one’s life—especially those who disrupt comfort or preference—can itself be understood as a concrete form of openness to God. In this sense, communal discernment is not merely ethical but participatory: openness to others becomes an enacted trust in God’s sovereign ordering of one’s life.
Process Without Mechanism
Macchia describes discernment as non-mechanical yet structured, identifying practices such as questioning, prayer, reflection, and communal confirmation. His insistence that faithfulness to the process matters more than immediate clarity is pastorally wise and theologically sound. Still, structure remains genuinely non-mechanical only when it is embedded within a deeper narrative of inner transformation. Without such grounding, even flexible processes risk becoming procedural.
Conclusion
The Discerning Life successfully retrieves discernment from instrumental and outcome-driven spirituality and re-centers it within attentiveness, presence, and trust. It offers a compelling vision of Christian life oriented toward communion rather than control.
At the same time, the book leaves open a critical theological question: whether relational attentiveness alone is sufficient, or whether discernment must also be framed within the classical movement toward purification and union with God. Read in this light, Macchia’s work functions best as a threshold text—inviting readers away from control and toward communion, while leaving room for deeper engagement with the transformative cost of that communion.
Read
March 2, 2026Discernment as Relationship and Transformation
An Academic Review of The Discerning Life by Stephen A. Macchia
Stephen A. Macchia, The Discerning Life: Living a Life of Discernment. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2021.
Stephen A. Macchia’s The Discerning Life offers a significant corrective to contemporary Christian approaches that treat spiritual discernment as a technique for decision-making or a means to secure desired outcomes. Against such instrumental models, Macchia insists that discernment is fundamentally a way of life shaped by attentiveness to God’s abiding presence. His central claim—that discernment precedes knowing God’s will—reorients the discussion away from results and toward relational faithfulness.
This review affirms the theological strength of Macchia’s retrieval while engaging critically with its limits, particularly in relation to classical traditions that understand discernment as inseparable from purification, illumination, and union with God.
Discernment Before Decision
Macchia’s most important contribution lies in his insistence that discernment is not primarily about determining what to do but about learning how to live attentively before God. God’s presence, he argues, is never absent; the problem is human inattentiveness. Discernment, therefore, is not the reception of new divine information but the cultivation of a posture capable of recognizing what is already given.
His use of Luke 24 (the Emmaus road narrative) illustrates this claim powerfully. Christ walks with the disciples long before they recognize him. Their failure to discern is not caused by divine silence but by inner distraction and grief. Recognition occurs retrospectively—through hospitality, shared presence, and the breaking of bread. Discernment here is not an extraordinary spiritual event but a gradual awakening to a reality already present.
This interpretation effectively challenges functional, outcome-oriented spirituality. Discernment is not a shortcut to certainty but a formation of perception.
Discernment as Relational Attentiveness
Throughout the book, Macchia emphasizes that discernment is relational rather than cognitive. The heart of discernment is not “knowing what to do” but “being with God.” Practices such as attentiveness, listening, silence, and hospitality are meant to foster a life that consistently orients itself toward God’s presence. His phrase “practicing a preference for God” aptly captures this orientation: discernment arises from desire shaped over time rather than from isolated moments of inquiry.
From my own theological perspective, this emphasis is both compelling and necessary. It rightly resists reducing discernment to problem-solving and recalls a more contemplative understanding of Christian life—one in which dwelling in God precedes acting for God.
A Theological Tension: Relationship Without Union?
The primary point of critical dialogue emerges at this juncture. While Macchia repeatedly affirms that discernment is relational, he intentionally avoids framing discernment in terms of union with God. The book emphasizes presence, companionship, and attentiveness, yet refrains from articulating how such presence effects deep transformation of the self.
In classical Christian spiritual theology—particularly within Eastern Christian traditions and mystical texts such as The Cloud of Unknowing—discernment is inseparable from a dynamic process of illumination and purification. God’s presence does not merely accompany; it exposes, judges, cleanses, and reorders desire. Union with God is not simply relational proximity but a costly process involving suffering, unlearning, and the dismantling of self-centered will.
By contrast, The Discerning Life largely bypasses explicit engagement with purification, purgation, or the painful dimensions of transformation. This omission may reflect a pastoral sensitivity to evangelical audiences, yet it also risks presenting discernment primarily as an experiential or relational comfort rather than a cruciform path of conversion.
Discernment in Community: Hospitality and Empathy
One of the book’s strongest sections is its insistence that discernment is communal rather than individualistic. Macchia’s discussions of hospitality and empathy rightly portray discernment as something practiced within relationships, not apart from them. Discernment unfolds through welcoming others, listening deeply, and resisting judgment.
Here the book opens space for further theological development. To welcome those whom God places in one’s life—especially those who disrupt comfort or preference—can itself be understood as a concrete form of openness to God. In this sense, communal discernment is not merely ethical but participatory: openness to others becomes an enacted trust in God’s sovereign ordering of one’s life.
Process Without Mechanism
Macchia describes discernment as non-mechanical yet structured, identifying practices such as prayer, reflection, questioning, and communal confirmation. His insistence that faithfulness to the process matters more than immediate clarity is pastorally wise and theologically sound. Still, structure remains genuinely non-mechanical only when it is embedded within a deeper narrative of inner transformation. Without such grounding, even flexible processes risk becoming procedural.
Conclusion
The Discerning Life successfully retrieves discernment from instrumental and outcome-driven spirituality and re-centers it within attentiveness, presence, and trust. It offers a compelling vision of Christian life oriented toward communion rather than control.
At the same time, the book leaves open a critical theological question: whether relational attentiveness alone is sufficient, or whether discernment must also be framed within the classical movement toward purification and union with God. Read in this light, Macchia’s work functions best as a threshold text—inviting readers away from control and toward communion, while leaving room for deeper engagement with the transformative cost of that communion.
An Academic Review of The Discerning Life by Stephen A. Macchia
Stephen A. Macchia, The Discerning Life: Living a Life of Discernment. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2021.
Stephen A. Macchia’s The Discerning Life offers a significant corrective to contemporary Christian approaches that treat spiritual discernment as a technique for decision-making or a means to secure desired outcomes. Against such instrumental models, Macchia insists that discernment is fundamentally a way of life shaped by attentiveness to God’s abiding presence. His central claim—that discernment precedes knowing God’s will—reorients the discussion away from results and toward relational faithfulness.
This review affirms the theological strength of Macchia’s retrieval while engaging critically with its limits, particularly in relation to classical traditions that understand discernment as inseparable from purification, illumination, and union with God.
Discernment Before Decision
Macchia’s most important contribution lies in his insistence that discernment is not primarily about determining what to do but about learning how to live attentively before God. God’s presence, he argues, is never absent; the problem is human inattentiveness. Discernment, therefore, is not the reception of new divine information but the cultivation of a posture capable of recognizing what is already given.
His use of Luke 24 (the Emmaus road narrative) illustrates this claim powerfully. Christ walks with the disciples long before they recognize him. Their failure to discern is not caused by divine silence but by inner distraction and grief. Recognition occurs retrospectively—through hospitality, shared presence, and the breaking of bread. Discernment here is not an extraordinary spiritual event but a gradual awakening to a reality already present.
This interpretation effectively challenges functional, outcome-oriented spirituality. Discernment is not a shortcut to certainty but a formation of perception.
Discernment as Relational Attentiveness
Throughout the book, Macchia emphasizes that discernment is relational rather than cognitive. The heart of discernment is not “knowing what to do” but “being with God.” Practices such as attentiveness, listening, silence, and hospitality are meant to foster a life that consistently orients itself toward God’s presence. His phrase “practicing a preference for God” aptly captures this orientation: discernment arises from desire shaped over time rather than from isolated moments of inquiry.
From my own theological perspective, this emphasis is both compelling and necessary. It rightly resists reducing discernment to problem-solving and recalls a more contemplative understanding of Christian life—one in which dwelling in God precedes acting for God.
A Theological Tension: Relationship Without Union?
The primary point of critical dialogue emerges at this juncture. While Macchia repeatedly affirms that discernment is relational, he intentionally avoids framing discernment in terms of union with God. The book emphasizes presence, companionship, and attentiveness, yet refrains from articulating how such presence effects deep transformation of the self.
In classical Christian spiritual theology—particularly within Eastern Christian traditions and mystical texts such as The Cloud of Unknowing—discernment is inseparable from a dynamic process of illumination and purification. God’s presence does not merely accompany; it exposes, judges, cleanses, and reorders desire. Union with God is not simply relational proximity but a costly process involving suffering, unlearning, and the dismantling of self-centered will.
By contrast, The Discerning Life largely bypasses explicit engagement with purification, purgation, or the painful dimensions of transformation. This omission may reflect a pastoral sensitivity to evangelical audiences, yet it also risks presenting discernment primarily as an experiential or relational comfort rather than a cruciform path of conversion.
Discernment in Community: Hospitality and Empathy
One of the book’s strongest sections is its insistence that discernment is communal rather than individualistic. Macchia’s discussions of hospitality and empathy rightly portray discernment as something practiced within relationships, not apart from them. Discernment unfolds through welcoming others, listening deeply, and resisting judgment.
Here the book opens space for further theological development. To welcome those whom God places in one’s life—especially those who disrupt comfort or preference—can itself be understood as a concrete form of openness to God. In this sense, communal discernment is not merely ethical but participatory: openness to others becomes an enacted trust in God’s sovereign ordering of one’s life.
Process Without Mechanism
Macchia describes discernment as non-mechanical yet structured, identifying practices such as prayer, reflection, questioning, and communal confirmation. His insistence that faithfulness to the process matters more than immediate clarity is pastorally wise and theologically sound. Still, structure remains genuinely non-mechanical only when it is embedded within a deeper narrative of inner transformation. Without such grounding, even flexible processes risk becoming procedural.
Conclusion
The Discerning Life successfully retrieves discernment from instrumental and outcome-driven spirituality and re-centers it within attentiveness, presence, and trust. It offers a compelling vision of Christian life oriented toward communion rather than control.
At the same time, the book leaves open a critical theological question: whether relational attentiveness alone is sufficient, or whether discernment must also be framed within the classical movement toward purification and union with God. Read in this light, Macchia’s work functions best as a threshold text—inviting readers away from control and toward communion, while leaving room for deeper engagement with the transformative cost of that communion.
March 16, 2022
Richard Foster in his endorsement for this excellent book, really sums it up: " Steve Macchia has placed spiritual discernment smack in the middle of everyday life ... exactly where it belongs!" Discernment isn't just about making decisions but as Macchia defines, 'discernment is about practicing a preference for God." To walk through our day, every element of our day, and wait on, listen to and respond to God.
Filled with some lovely stories using his much-loved home as a frequent analogy plus other examples through his many years of leading others in the practice, Macchia provides a tried, tested and tweaked process for exercising discernment. For engaging God throughout our days and also through the big decisions whether as individuals or in a group situation.
It's a book that is best read slowly, taking many notes and I'd expect it will be one that I will return to repeatedly and most likely almost immediately. Discernment is so important for us who claim to walk with God so we can live the lives that reflect the one He calls us to and to be that salt and that light we are asked to be.
I was very fortunate to receive an early ebook copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley having pre-ordered it without any expectations of a positive review.
Filled with some lovely stories using his much-loved home as a frequent analogy plus other examples through his many years of leading others in the practice, Macchia provides a tried, tested and tweaked process for exercising discernment. For engaging God throughout our days and also through the big decisions whether as individuals or in a group situation.
It's a book that is best read slowly, taking many notes and I'd expect it will be one that I will return to repeatedly and most likely almost immediately. Discernment is so important for us who claim to walk with God so we can live the lives that reflect the one He calls us to and to be that salt and that light we are asked to be.
I was very fortunate to receive an early ebook copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley having pre-ordered it without any expectations of a positive review.
May 23, 2022
“Perhaps the greatest work any person of faith is called to is to learn to pay attention to God. To learn to see God at work in the everyday events of life and to hear God’s voice in the sacred scriptures and the life of another is of enormous significance to the person who seeks to live a life of faithfulness.” Pg 230
This encapsulates in words the desires and deepest longings of my heart as I picked up Steve Macchia’s book “The Discerning Life”. He acts as an experienced and humble guide describing in depth and practically how to rest and trust in God’s goodness and notice him in everything. Nothing in life is more important than the heart of the message in this book to help us mine the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. This is a book I will come back to again and again to grow in discernment and wisdom.
This encapsulates in words the desires and deepest longings of my heart as I picked up Steve Macchia’s book “The Discerning Life”. He acts as an experienced and humble guide describing in depth and practically how to rest and trust in God’s goodness and notice him in everything. Nothing in life is more important than the heart of the message in this book to help us mine the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. This is a book I will come back to again and again to grow in discernment and wisdom.
June 16, 2022
Really helpful book!!
December 20, 2022
A really great jumping off point for group discussion. Lovely content and I learned alot. The reading experience itself was pretty dry and could have used a good edit.
September 29, 2024
Wonderful book for going deeper into the contemplative life of noticing God in everything and practicing a preference for God!
July 19, 2025
3.5 stars. I wanted to love this book but found it difficult to stay engaged. I appreciated the exercises at the end of the chapter and may go back and use those for ideas when needed.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews