Throughout my time reading this book, I was overjoyed to finally see a Christian author talk about Christ. For too often I found Christian authors talk about "God," but make him whatever they want him to be. The Jesus of the Gospels, however, proves very hard to limit or fit into our agendas. And he's very different from the Jesus people see from hypocritical Christians.

Jesus is amazing.

However, as much as I enjoyed this book and was about to give it 5 stars, one chapter startled me and left me very disappointed. The chapter was on the Ascension and what Jesus left behind. Instead of following the Gospel narrative as the author had done so throughout the book, he instead opted to leave out a vital part of the Christian Faith, and frankly, a part of God: the Holy Spirit.

You see, Jesus reveals the trinity, so if one focuses on Jesus, he cannot neglect the Father nor the Holy Spirit. But Yancey does just that, and partially quotes Jesus as saying, "it will be better when I leave," without then revealing the coming of the Advocate and Comforter.

This failure to mention the Holy Spirit then leads Yancey into a speculative mess about the church's dualistic history (being both great and bad) and the individual Christian's often sinful life. Yancey blissfully concludes that only God knows what pleases God, when clearly Jesus teaches us what is right and wrong and says a good tree can't bear bad fruit.

This is not to say that Christians must be utterly perfect right away, but it is to say that we should strive to be more like Christ every day. And, coming full circle, we can only become more like Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit, which I think would help Yancey's approach to life after the Ascension.

He used Peter and his denial of knowing Jesus as an example to build his case about God using messed up people for his church and kingdom, but once more, one must look at the difference the Holy Spirit made once it descended and entered into Peter. Was he perfect afterward? No, but he was definitely far better than he used to be. Likewise as Christians, we are not sinners saved by grace who still live in sin. Jesus didn't save us from death; he saved us from sin which leads to death. So therefore, once we are saved, we are sinners no more, but saints who embody God himself more and more as we love him and obey his commands.

This is the Gospel brought to life by Jesus himself, and for the most part, I highly enjoyed this book. If anything, I hope the book stirs people to discover who Jesus really is through the Gospels and encounter a love so great they drop everything to pursue him.