The Vertical Self by Mark Sayers

The day I received this book to review for my blog, I was driving behind a vehicle covered with stickers saying, "It's All About Me," "Goddess," and "Princess." In an age where we identify ourselves through Facebook, our appearance, and even the labels on our cars, we are self-obsessed. So I found it ironic that I received this book in the mail just prior to coming upon this car.


We are so obsessed with creating this image for ourselves by spending hours updating our Facebook page, shopping for the newest trend, or creating a whole persona for others to admire. But for what reason? Are we really that obsessed with ourselves? The quick answer is YES!

Author Mark Sayers brings this to attention in his newest book.He describes to extremes. One is ther Vertical Self. This is our "God-given identity and a Greek belief in virtuous living. At the top of this vertical order is God. (p.9). Sadly, our culture has changed and we've gotten away from this vertical viewpoint.

The other extreme, or way our culture has turned, is towards the horizontal self. "With a horizontal view, we can only look to media and our peers for a sense of self. The horizontal self looks to others for a sense of identity rather than to something larger than onself, thus finding a sense of self in one's status within society (p.17-20).

With this, the author explores Biblically how we can turn back to God. He suggest four key ways to finding our future selves: bringing our desires under Christ's Lordship, bringing our desires under Covenant, testing the worthiness of our desires, and testing the fruitfulness of our desires (P.148-150). He wants us also to become teachers of the Vertical Self to others.

I like the idea that the author includes a study guide towards the back of the book. This would be very helpful for a group wanting to do this together to grow and learn. The author is honest and really opened my eyes to my mistakes. It's a great book!