Fearless--a book review

Earlier this week, I received the book Fearless by Max Lucado from Thomas Nelson Publishing. The subtitle is Imagine Your Life Without Fear. The book has about 13 chapters covering fears that individuals can feel free to lay aside. The 14th chapter covers the only truly healthy fear, that being the fear of the Lord. After the final chapter, there is a discussion guide for each chapter which would be useful for using in group studies.

This was not a profoundly deep book, but it did cover basic fears that most people struggle with at one time or another. In the first two chapters, he covers fears that haunt us in our minds such as not mattering and disappointing God. He follows this with a chapter in which he offers tips as to how to stop worries from plaguing you. In the next couple of chapters, he discusses the fears common in raising children and many fears we easily succumb to when looking at the world around us. These fears include the anxiety we can experience when facing circumstances that overwhelm us, situations that can be the worst imaginable, even the anxiety caused by violence in the world and money concerns. The last few chapters deal with a fear of death, or the uncertainty of what is yet to come in life, and doubts about God's existence. Finally, he reaches the chapter I was hoping would be included. This chapter is about the only good fear--the fear of the Lord. He tells the importance of realizing that we cannot put God into our box. He is too great to contain, too awesome to understand, too amazing to explain. When all of our fear is wrapped up in acknowledging His greatness and His control of all things then all other fears become small.

Although I was not overwhelmingly affected by this book, it did include a thorough overview of fears that we need not waste our time on.