Fearless

By Max Lucado

Review By Casey Fedde

Categories: Fear, Motivational, Spiritual Living

Can you imagine your life without fear? Answering might not be as easy as you think. Fear, and fearlessness, transcends all boundaries — race, gender, age, class. And fighting fear can become a daily routine of wading through the waters of panic and paranoia.

Max Lucado describes the many faces of fear in his best-selling book "Fearless" and shares a healing message for silencing its doom and gloom attitude. Each chapter in the book is complete on its own, easy-to-read, bite-sized doses that uplift the soul and calm the emotions tied up by fear. The chapters are infused with a good, hearty helping of Bible stories and simple quotations that we all know, love, and often forget — the ones at the subject of every Sunday school class. Rereading these messages from the Bible along with Lucado's insight and inspiration instantly dilutes the anxiety and worry of everyday tasks, getting you punching, not panicking (79).

"Fearless" covers the complete spectrum of fear: the fear of not mattering, disappointing God, running out, not protecting my kids, overwhelming challenges, worst-case scenarios, violence, the coming winter, life's final moments, what's next, that God is not real, global calamity, the fear of God getting out of my box.

In today's fear-packed world we're constantly impressed by gripping headlines and news of disease and terror, forced to read the warning labels in life, and brainwashed to succumb to trends that shackle our needs and wants to often unhealthy extremes. But Lucado offers fresh, lively writing to lift us up from this me-focused, not God-focused, lifestyle. "Sin is 'God-less' living, centering life on the center letter of the word sIn," Lucado says (34). And his sentences are keenly crafted and splattered with humor. Trust me, there are plenty of one-liners to pull out and scribble onto Post-Its. They are the perfect pick-me-ups in the morning or to revisit throughout the day when life seems to be pelting lemons at you with a machine gun.

While "Fearless" teaches us to not let fear have any place in our lives, the book also reaffirms God's commitment to our wellbeing. From Jesus' decree on the Mount of Olives (Matt. 24:4-5) to the summary of Solomon (Eccl. 3:1-8 NLT), the Bible tells us how to weather the storms in life. Take heed from the Bible. Fear makes a terrible umbrella.

Lucado is clear from the very beginning of his book — fear can be deceiving. "Fear corrodes our confidence in God's goodness" (9). So "Fearless" tries to restore our confidence, restore our faith.

Fear is a central character in the book, a character who you quickly realize you want nothing to do with ever again, a character you can too easily trust. Fear makes us switch out our prayers, our reliance on God, with plastic dashboard Jesus dolls, idols molded for luck, not faith. Don't let fear reign, Lucado says. So are you still floating through life with a parachute of fear? If you are, you better ditch it and drop to the ground. God will catch you. There most certainly will be bumpy terrain and troubled waters. Just remember, Lucado says, "Storms are not an option, but fear is" (76).

Grab a copy of "Fearless." Can you imagine your life without fear? If not, it's about time you started.

Learn more about "Fearless" and Max Lucado's many other books at www.maxlucado.com.