Growing Down by Michael Kelley | Book Review

I received this book for free from B&H Books in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Growing Down: Unlearning the Patterns of Adulthood that Keep Us from Jesus by Michael Kelley
Published by B&H Books on April 1st 2018
Genres: Christian, Christian Life, Emotions & Feelings, Personal Development, Religion
Pages: 224
Source: B&H Books
Add to: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon, Barnes&Noble

What does it mean to be an adult? Different individuals and cultures will answer differently, but they all will have one common theme: self-sufficiency.

Here is where the problem lies for the Christian. On the one hand, the world needs grown-ups, now more than ever. But if growing up is mainly about self-sufficiency and self-reliance, the gospel runs diametrically opposed to both of those things. The gospel tells us, in fact, that we need to "grow down”—to become like children.

True maturity, according to Jesus, is entering the kingdom of heaven like a child. In Growing Down, Michael Kelley wrestles with Jesus’ words that the kingdom of heaven belongs to the likes of little children. If that is true, then we must grow down in characteristics that make us functional and effective adults, if we want to truly grow up in Christ.

Michael Kelley hit it out of the park with this book. It is such an informative book that shows readers just how being an adult keeps us from Jesus. It’s definitely true that as we grow up we start to pick up behaviors and beliefs that keep our faith in Christ from being as strong as it could be. And that’s what this book aims to help us see and visualize. It describes the importance of having a child-like faith in Christ and how that just isn’t as possible unless we begin to grow down rather than up, unlearning adulthood.

The Review

Kelley does a great job describing which parts of adulthood we need to unlearn to be faithful the way we should. The first of which is unlearning self-reliance and becoming more dependent in Christ. In order to be strong in our faith, we have to rely on God and know that we can’t do anything without him.

The book goes on to list a bunch of other behaviors and beliefs we have to unlearn like reducing the complexity of our lives and becoming more simple. Kelley goes on to describe how privacy steps in the way of a strong faith and keeps us from true authenticity and how we begin to lose trust in Christ which leads to a life full of anxiety, which again keeps us from a stronger faith in Christ.

As we continue to grow, and the importance of education takes over our lives, we start to lose our sense of wonder. Without wonder, we begin to be more and more apathetic and less passionate about life. We begin to let our self-consciousness take over and we begin to lose our innocence. We fill our lives with different things, tasks, and responsibilities, and we take less time to rest, and without rest, we have less and less time to spend with God.

All of these things are what we have to unlearn in order to be truly faithful. If any of these things resonate with you, then I would strongly suggest you pick up this book and you truly read it. It will help you see what it’s important to unlearn these behaviors and to truly be more child-like in our relationship with Christ our father.