Why Do I Do What I Don’t Want to Do?

Jps ability to share his own struggles and personal experience with sin, while showing us scripture based ways to counter attack and to guard our hearts from sin, in order to replace, daily self-made bad habits with life giving virtues. Any Christian looking to grow deeper in Jesus, understanding grace or just wanting to know, how to build healthy habits to fight sin, NEED TO READ THIS BOOK!! Solid 10/10 one of the best books if not the best I’ve ever written! Well done Jp & Jg

I have reached a point in my early thirties where I recognize the bad habits and characteristics I have that I created long ago and continued to fuel with poor choices. I have been trying for about two years to work on myself and am being outpaced by a sloth. Then I see JP post on Instagram about a book coming out that helps us "learn how to overcome the habits that are stealing joy from your life." I heard God answer my prayer asking for help and I preordered the book that day. This book pinpoints the most common habits we struggle with and their better opposites. JP goes in depth with personal examples of how each of these vices begin, affect us and the ones we love, and what we can do to move to the other end of that spectrum. Two examples from the book that speak directly to me are in the chapters called "Entitlement & Gratitude" and " Busyness & Rest." JP shows us how these vices steal our joy, how the enemy lies to us to keep us from seeing the other side, and what our loving Savior, Jesus Christ, wants for us. Jesus has already spoken the words of rebuke, encouragement, and redirection for all things. Sometimes it is easier to hear and understand when someone living in today's world shows us through personal experience and example. Sometimes we just need to hear it said multiple times. Sometimes we need to know the hard truths that people close to us are too afraid to tell us. I wanted to know why I do the things I know are unkind, selfish, and spiteful even though I really don't want to do them. What makes me act this way? JP showed me the root of my problems is in my thinking and where that came from. I now have several tools in my belt that I have begun using to kill these bad habits and move toward the other end of that spectrum. I feel the Lord's grace and love pouring over me every time I choose better. I recommend this book to anyone who can relate to me, even just a little bit. You will not be disappointed in this book!

This book is incredible. In "Why Do I Do", JP has achieved what many have failed to do: write a genuinely transformational, relevant, and biblical guide to sanctification without being a pithy self-help book. Many people the think the Bible is a rulebook of "do nots" to avoid, but JP simply presents how each vice will rob the reader of a full and joy-filled life, then shows the reader that rather than avoiding each vice, we should actively pursue the opposite virtue. With ten chapters covering ten vice/virtue pairs, this book is an anthology of the pragmatic truth that the Holy Spirit used to turn my life around three years ago. I grew up in the church, but didn't walk closely with Christ until I was about to graduate from college. It was a difficult time in my life, one when I came face to face with the ugly reality of where my thoughts, decisions, and actions had brought me. It was into this pivotal time in my life that my sisters introduced the podcast Becoming Something and JP's "Friday Q&A" on Instagram. For a young man who had been surrounded by a comfortable Christianity his whole life, JP's "tell the hard truths" approach was exactly what my prodigal heart needed to hear. Since then I have listened to hundreds of sermons and podcasts from The Porch, Becoming Something, and Harris Creek which the Holy Spirit has used to completely change my life. I have read all four of JP's books, and "Why Do I Do" is by far the most widely accessible and helpful book he has written to date. Don't get me wrong, "Welcoming the Future Church", "Welcome to Adulting", and "Outdated" are incredibly instructive and helpful, but "Why Do I Do" is not just a book for church staffs and young adults. It is a book for anyone who seeks to walk faithfully with Jesus Christ and become more and more like him. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. And JP, if you read this, I want you to know that I thank God every day for the work he has done in my life through the words and teachings of you and your colleagues at The Porch, BeSo, and Harris Creek. I am so blessed by you, and I pray for you.