Book Review: The Vertical Self by Mark Sayers
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Mark Sayers has written an interesting book, to say the least. I received this book as part of the Amazon Vine Reviewer program and did not think it would be an easy read. It was an easy and enjoyable read.
Sayers looks at how people live, relate, and function today. He states that most people are trying to relate and live on a horizontal level, that is from person to person. We should, however, seek to live our lives on a vertical plane, person to God.
Sayers states that we have labels such as “hip”, “cool”, “sexy”, and more to describe a person. All of these things come from trying to find our significance in our relationships with other people. Sayers rightly contents that we should find our significance in Christ.
All of that was good, but now we must come to the reason that I only give this book three stars: Sayers mentions the gospel, but does not go into detail to explain what the gospel is. If we are to live our lives based on our relationship with God in Christ, we must know how to enter into that relationship. This is where the book sadly fails. Very sadly. The reader may indeed be searching, and find themselves convicted by what they have read. They won’t learn how to be changed by Divine grace through the death of Christ for their sins, and His resurrection power.