Shift Your Thinking For a Deeper Faith

What if by making small adjustments in how you think, speak and act, you could make larger strides in growing as a Christian? That’s the basic concept behind the new book, Shift Your Thinking For a Deeper Faith by Dean Del Sesto. It supposedly contains 99 ways to strengthen your relationship with God, others and yourself.

Quite frankly, I’m a bit torn by this book. The format means each potential change is addressed by reading a couple of quick pages. Each topic contains scripture, the authors thoughts, suggestions and a deeper thinking question. The list of topics is thorough and covers a lot of areas that can cause Christians issues. At least it would if such a list existed. Instead the reader is forced to read sequentially instead of having the ability to easily find segments they may need at the moment.

In some cases, the author provides a somewhat unique and helpful perspective. Most of the time the entries are more of a reminder of what we should already know (which granted most of us need from time to time.) A couple of entries were a bit concerning to me. I’m not comfortable with the idea that “God doesn’t answer every prayer” – when a more accurate description is that He sometimes tells us “No” or “Wait”.

I was really uncomfortable with the concept of Christianity as a “brand” and a “personal brand” – as if somehow it doesn’t matter what we do or don’t do as long as we call ourselves Christian. It may not have been the author’s intent, but in a world where God’s absolute truths are viewed as more and more irrelevant, this entry seems to feed into the problem rather than stopping it.

In general, this book could be helpful to many Christians to help them be a bit more intentional about how they live their lives every day. Just be sure to double check every thing by scripture – this is one case where there are a few things that just don’t seem to fit.

This book was provided to me for free in exchange for my honest review. An affiliate link is included for your convenience.

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Thereasa Winnett

Thereasa Winnett is the founder of Teach One Reach One and blogger at Parenting Like Hannah. She holds a BA in education from the College of William and Mary. She has served in all areas of ministry to children and teens for more than thirty years and regularly leads workshops for ministries and churches. She has conducted numerous workshops, including sessions at Points of Light’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service, the National Urban Ministry Conference, Pepperdine Bible Lectures, and Lipscomb’s Summer Celebration. Thereasa lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband Greg, where she enjoys reading, knitting, traveling and cooking.

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