Subversive Jesus Book Review

I was interested to read this book and a bit wary not sure what the author's take would be, but I was very pleasantly surprised! I found this to be a very engaging and encouraging narrative of  Craig Greenfield's family and life. Raised in the main stream church where Jesus can be understood as nothing more than "a really nice guy" which does nothing to change lives, Craig discovers that he needs to change his perspective and changes his life situation to do so. 

He shares he and his family's time in Cambodia and then Vancouver and then back to Cambodia and how through choosing to live in poverty with other poor people his eyes are more opened to who the Bible actually says Jesus is and how he lived while on this earth. There are many stories of specific situations they lived through and how they handled them which I really appreciated. I was struck by the wholehearted attentiveness to God's word being the ultimate authority and honestly seeking the way Christ would have dealt with people and working at avoiding selfish acts of helping the poor. His emphasis is on relationship, which is what God is most concerned about.

I also greatly applaud Craig's honest confession that if we are believers, and especially for men being the leaders, do not first love their families and have that in order, they should not and cannot go out and serve others. I also really appreciated that at the end of the book Craig's point is not to say everyone should go and live in poverty like his family, but to serve in the areas God has made you passionate about and that we can find the "poor" anywhere. Much of time the poorest people are the wealthy.

I give this book a solid 5 stars and highly recommend it to anyone who would like to be challenged and encouraged as we strive to walk in the steps of Jesus...on our way home.

***I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. All opinions are my own.***