BOOK REVIEW: “Just Do Something” by Kevin DeYoung

After reading Kevin DeYoung’s previous work “Why We’re Not Emergent”, co-authored with Ted Kluck, it didn’t take much convincing for me to grab a copy of this book off Amazon.  It’s not a huge book at only 126 pages and slightly bigger than an Archie Digest.  But it packs a good punch, mainly because the message itself is not rocket science.  In fact, the book description says it all:

“No need for hocus-pocus. No reason to be directionally challenged. Just do something.”

If I had a dime for every book out there that tries to tell us how to become in tune with the mind of God, I’d be writing from my yacht armed with a Death Star laser and being served blueberry daiquiri’s from my bikini clad wife.  99.9% of these books are complete rubbish.  But here’s another one and it has a method we’ve forgotten:

“Hyper-spiritual approaches to finding God’s will don’t work. It’s time to try something new: Give up.”

Freaking brilliant.

So often the going trend for tapping into the Almighty is to get so in touch with ones own inner emotions, and then equate them with the mind and will of God.  Perhaps a good analogy is a hyper-charismatic church, where one must ask the question of whether or not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is truly responsible for the attention-whore running up the isles at breakneck speeds and speaking in what he believes are tongues.

Kevin DeYoung has a simple message in this book. Finding God’s will is liberating if we dispose of all the “contemporary” garbage, and just DO SOMETHING.   Much like the ab-roller or Nordic Trac, there are hundreds of theological hucksters like Brian McLaren who promise the godly equivalent of 6-pack abs with no effort as long as you use their toy.  In a way Kevin advises just getting our metaphorical fat ass on the floor and start doing crunches.

“Just Do Something” is not an intense scholastic work by any means.  Think of it more as a quick theological bitch-slap.  In a world where so many sit and wait for verbal instruction from God as if they were a modern day Moses, it is important to note that God has already given us a road map.   To quote from the book:

“God is not a Magic 8-Ball we shake up and peer into whenever we have a decision to make. He is a good God who gives us brains, shows us the way of obedience, and invites us to take risks for Him. ( page 26)“

Maybe the problem with our generation is that we hold our hands to the sky and expect God to fill the void when our parents stopped telling us to get up, brush our teeth, and go to school.  We became dependent on the “puppet-master”, and are now too fearful to take a risk without someone giving us the thumbs up.

I agree with Amazon and give this 4.5 Feathers out of 5, because although it is short, it’s almost like having a good friend telling you to stop being such a bonehead.   Those are always the best friends!