Title: Fearless
Author: Max Lucado
Length: 240 pages
Genre: Nonfiction
Publisher/Date: Thomas Nelson, 2009
Source: Review copy from Booksneeze
About the Book
From the publisher:
Each sunrise seems to bring fresh reasons for fear.
They’re talking layoffs at work, slowdowns in the economy, flare-ups in the Middle East, turnovers at headquarters, downturns in the housing market, upswings in global warming. The plague of our day, terrorism, begins with the word terror. Fear, it seems, has taken up a hundred-year lease on the building next door and set up shop. Oversized and rude, fear herds us into a prison of unlocked doors. Wouldn’t it be great to walk out?
Imagine your life, wholly untouched by angst. What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats? If you could hover a fear magnet over your heart and extract every last shaving of dread, insecurity, or doubt, what would remain? Envision a day, just one day, where you could trust more and fear less.
Can you imagine your life without fear?
My Thoughts
Although I haven’t read many of Max Lucado’s books, I remember being touched by some of his writings a number of years ago, and I have enjoyed several of his children’s books immensely. The subtitle of this book, Image Your Life Without Fear, intrigued me when I saw it on Booksneeze, so I requested a review copy on the basis of that.
Unfortunately, while I appreciated the overall message and even highlighted a few things in the first couple of chapters, I found this book to be a bit lacking in depth with regard to the complexity of the issue of fear. The later chapters seemed to simply take the basic message and apply it to examples in different arenas of life rather than to delve more deeply into the topic itself.
I am not saying that Fearless is completely without merit. I think it would make a good Sunday sermon. And as I mentioned, there were a few sentences that struck me as interesting. Here are some examples, along with my reactions:
“Imagine your life wholly untouched by angst. What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats?” — I’m not sure how realistic this is, but it would be wonderful. The idea of visualization (imagining things to be a certain way) has been recommended by many people as a tool to shape future behavior, so perhaps it is possible to get closer to this type of reaction via that method.
“Fear unleashes a swarm of doubts, anger-stirring doubts. And it turns us into control freaks. . . . Fear, at its center, is a perceived loss of control.” — A good reminder of the fact that anger is a secondary emotion and that we need to look behind it to see if the anger is masking fear or some other emotion.
“Wise are the parents who regularly give their children back to God. . . . We can be loyal advocates, stubborn intercessors. We can take our parenting fears to Christ.” — I can relate to being an advocate for my son but oftentimes forget that the ultimate source of direction and inspiration is God Himself. I need to seek His guidance first as I make decisions about my son.
So, while I might recommend the first couple of chapters of Fearless, I wouldn’t suggest spending the money to buy the book. I was much more impressed and personally helped by reading Plan B by Pete Wilson, which I read shortly after I had received Lucado’s book.
I'm a mom with Asperger's raising an amazing son with autism, which means I'm basically the case manager/advocate/cheerleader/chauffeur. The rest of the time, you can usually find me with my nose in a book!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I bought this book a while back for the same reason you said you read it but couldn’t get through it for the same reasons you mentioned. I read a great book by Edward Walsh called Running Scared that I really appreciated on the topic of fear if you’re still interested in reading more on the subject. I haven’t heard of Plan B – I’ll check it out!
Thank fo rthe great review
I am not buying the book but I loved all three quotes very very much
I have a few of Max Lucado’s books I bought at a (garage) sale. They are in the ‘retirement’ reading pile. Sigh. I spend too much time reading online, perhaps. I live in the same town as Max and have heard him speak. And I just won his latest book at his publisher’s blog. I hope to read that one next – right after the ‘Adolescents Owners Manual’ that I also won online. Guess I’m just lucky!
I doubt I would p/u a book about fear. Right now, no need to pick-up any books at all!
Thanks for stopping by – heartfelt, too.