Fearless

Still catching up writing about my vacation reading. I had a chance to read Max Lucado’s latest, Fearless, Imagine Your Life Without Fear. I have always liked Lucado’s writing but I have never considered it earth-shattering. However, I am willing to say that this book is important. Max Lucado has always had a way to make important theological truth accessible to everyone and he has landed on an exceptionally important and timely theological truth.

We are afraid of everything and even worse, we base our decisions and our very lives on this fear. Fear has become a commodity in our society with media and marketing playing to our deepest and darkest fears to get us to do things and buy things that might not otherwise match our values and worldview. And here is the worst part: each breath of fear is a mark of disobedience. The author reminds us that Christ’s most common command was against fear:

His most common command emerges from the “fear not” genre. The Gospels list some 125 Christ-issued imperatives. Of these, 21 urge us to “not be afraid” or “fear not” or “have courage” or “take heart” or “be of good cheer.” The second most common command, to love God and neighbor, appears on only eight occasions. If quantity is any indicator, Jesus takes our fears seriously. The one statement he made more than any other was this: don’t be afraid. (pgs. 10-11)

This is a very relevant book to review on this weblog about discipleship because one of the biggest modern barriers to discipleship is fear. We cannot become what God is calling us to become when our lives are rooted in fear instead of love. If you want to live a life free from the spirit robbing specter of fear, give this one a read.

peace,

will