Jesus: Pure and Simple by Wayne Cordeiro

  This is an amazing book! It has so much insight and clarified some things for me that I hadn't realized about life and myself.  I found myself wanting to underline passages to re-read later.

The whole purpose of this book is that we need to get back to Jesus. Cordeiro points out that the devil wants us to think following Jesus is complicated so that we will get discouraged and give up.  We start to worry about rules and to-do lists instead of focusing on Jesus and our relationship.  He shows us ways in which we get distracted or off track and how to recognize this and correct back.  Satan likes to mix his deception with truth, and the only solution is to correct back to Jesus' teachings and the spirit in which He taught. If we correct back to another person or time period, it becomes too easy to be just a little off the mark and so become a modern-day Pharisee. 

Some of the topics are being in the world, but not of it; focusing on Jesus and not our problems; serving in secret; the importance of spending time with Jesus by reading the Bible; being available; and contentment.  He continuously points back to Jesus and that if we focus on Him, everything else will fall into place.  Cordeiro uses a lot of examples from history and his own life to illustrate his points, which makes for very interesting reading.  He also uses a lot of Scripture so we can read for ourselves the truths he's pointing out. There are also questions at the end of each chapter that can be used by an individual or in a group setting.

I would highly recommend this book to any Christian, whether you've just started walking with Jesus or have been doing so for years.  There's a lot of truth in this book and Jesus can change our lives if we keep it pure and simple!

Thanks to Bethany House Publishers for my free copy in exchange for an honest review.