In "Fearless" Max Lucado tackles the important subject of our fears. Each day seems to bring new reasons for fear i.e. wars around the world, terrorism, layoffs, global warming, etc. Fear holds many people captive. According to Lucado, "When fear shapes our lives, safety becomes our god. When safety becomes our god, we worship the risk-free" and this limits us from loving deeply and dreaming wildly (pg. 10). Lucado challenges his readers to imagine their lives free from fear and states that this is a real possibility.
Lucado's goal in writing this book was that the reader would "fear less tomorrow than we do today" (pg. 13). He accomplishes this goal by examining Jesus' most common command: "fear not." Jesus was constantly calling His followers to have courage. The book covers thirteen of these instances and relates them to common fears that we face in life: (1) Fear of not mattering- Matt. 10:31 (2) Fear of disappointing God - Matt. 9:2 (3) Fear of running out - Matt. 6:25 (4) Fear of not protecting my kids - Luke 8:50 (5) Fear of overwhelming challenge - Matt. 14:27 (6) Fear of worst-case scenarios - Mark 14:33 (7) Fear of violence - Matt. 10:28 (8) Fear of the coming winter - Luke 12:32 (9) Fear if life's final moments - John 14:1, 3 (10) Fear of what's next - John 14:27 (11) Fear that God is not real - Luke 24:38 (12) Fear of global calamity - Matthew 24:6 and (13) Fear of God getting out of my box - Matthew 17:6-7.
This book was a very timely read for me. I was challenged to examine my life and how I have allowed fear to creep into many areas of it. Lucado captured my attention right from the title. "Fearless" was a book that I found hard to put down once I started reading it. I enjoyed Lucado's storytelling style and how he related the Scripture to everyday life. I would HIGHLY recommend this book to everyone!
I want to challenge you with a question that challenged me through this book: "What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats? (pg. 6).
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