Book Review: Fearless

I confess that my reading has gone a little bit the way of my blogging (truly, what HAVE I been doing??? Not mopping, that's for sure!) But I have read a few really good reads that I need to tell you about here.

One such book is Fearless by Max Lucado. Written in typical Lucado-style (easy, conversational), Fearless approaches the most frequently given command in scripture: "Do not fear." Lucado combines scripture, personal confession, and antecdotes from history to tell how we can approach life fearlessly -- how God would have it.

Some favorite quotes:

"Fear may fill our world, but it doesn't have to fill our hearts. It will always knock on the door. Just don't invite it in for dinner."

"Fear corrodes our confidence in God's goodness."

"The worship of safety emasculates greatness."

"The abundance of possessions has a way of eclipsing God, no matter how meager those possessions may be."

I do confess that about half-way through the book, I lost interest for a time. I wanted to turn to Max and say... "Okay, I get it. Live fearlessly. Don't fear. Got it. Check. Move on." Because, of course, if you write an entire book about living fearlessly, some of it may get to be a little redundant. However, I plugged ahead out of... duty or something. And was rewarded by my favorite part of the book that is in the last chapter or two of the book. A very good insight about how this life simply doesn't compare to the next. And one I need to hear... every hour of every day. Yes, of course, Max reminded us of 2 Corinthians 4:17: For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

Amen and amen.

And... as to the "redundant" part -- well, if God thinks it was necessary to remind us again and again and AGAIN "Do not fear" -- we probably need the reminder more than once.

Do not fear.

All in all, I would recommend Fearless. It would probably do well for a group study, but I would imagine that would get bogged down and/or redundant, as well.