Book Review: Fearless by Max Lucado

I first became acquainted through Max Lucado’s books due to a religious quandary around Easter. I am my nephew’s godmother and I wasn’t sure what to get him for Easter. I wanted to get him something meaningful and not to Easter Bunnyish. So I decided on a book, but I wasn’t sure what type of book to get him.  I didn’t want to get him a Children’s Bible or stories of the Bible (aka Noah’s Ark)…I wanted something a little different.

That is when I found You Are Special. You Are Special was prefect! It had a good story, a good theme and in year’s to come, my nephew wouldn’t even know he was reading about God…when he really was. Thus, my tradition began with my nephew. Every year, I get him a Max Lucado book. He is five now and the last book I bought for him was The Oak Inside The Acorn and afterward, we talked about the book and what the book meant.

Then I saw that Max Lucado wrote books for adults and I was a bit intrigued. So, I read Fearless. Fearless is about how the many fears around us seem to overwhelm and paralyze us. However, with God and Jesus beside us, we can learn to conquer these fears. Each chapter of Fearless reviews a common fear (for example, fear of running out, fear of challenges, fear of disappointing God etc). Then Lucado reviews how Jesus helps us learn to defeat these fears.

While much of the material that Lucado goes over was not new to me, there are two chapters that really resonated with me. The chapter on “Fear of Not Protecting My Kids” hit home for me. Before I had my daughter, I had come to peace with the fact that I was going to die one day. Then I had Magpie. My whole world turned upside down and I became one of these freaky overprotective people that I used to scoff at. I became paranoid that I was going to die and leave my child motherless. I wasn’t afraid that my husband or extended family members couldn’t take care of her. I knew they were more than capable. I was afraid because none of them were her mother. I was.

Lucado had similar fears with his children and he states that we must entrust our kids to Christ. Through Christ, our children will be safe. As my daughter becomes older, I have let go more and more. As I see her become more confident and more able, I realize that no matter what, she’ll be okay. Raising a child is all about letting go and I’m coming to grips with that fact every minute.

The second chapter that really stood out to me was “Fear of the Coming Winter.” Fear of the coming winter means that we make money and material items the most important parts of our life; even though they are the pieces of life that we will not take with us when we pass away. Lucado uses the analogy of Monopoly to illustrate his point. You can be the richest player in the game of Monopoly, but it doesn’t matter because the money isn’t real. Money and material goods are not what life is about. They are a piece of it, but it matters more to be generous with the things we do have than to hoard them.

And most of all, replace fear of the coming winter with faith in the living God. After all, it’s just Monopoly money. It all goes back in the box when the game is over.

In conclusion, there are definitely parts of the book that made me rethink how I live my life. Obsessing about impending death (like I can stop it) or worrying about having enough in savings (there’s never enough) is not going to make me a better person. Maybe an obsessive one, but there are better things that I can obsess about.

Book Source: Advanced Reader’s Copy from publisher