Fear is an enemy to be conquered. This is a central thrust of this book. Fear is something that a Christian doesn’t have to live with and shouldn’t live with. Lucado spends 14 chapters addressing specific areas of fear that the Bible directly addresses. He does this in each chapter by taking specific commands from Jesus to be not afraid or fear not and applying them to our lives.
Lucado has a reputation of being a writer of fluff. I was told as a young Christian that his books would be a big help as a young Christian but I would need to move on to meatier books as I grew. Now there is an element of truth in this, but its not because of Lucado being a fluff artist. Rather it is because his audience is not bible scholars, it is the everyday Christian who is needs a word from the Lord that can be easily digested and applied to their lives. If you come looking for deep intricate theology you won’t find it, he doesn’t mean for us to find it.
But this is also his strength, because in this book he very clearly and accurately diagnoses many areas where Christians struggle with fear. So if fear is a struggle for you, you will find some help here. He addresses fear accurately and memorably. However, I do have a few quibbles.
There should have been more Gospel focus. The Gospel was presented in this book, however it was not consistently shown as the greatest reason to be courageous and have no fear. All the direction given was true and helpful, but it is the Gospel that most banishes fear from our lives. Also there could have been cohesion in the chapters - other than the topic of fear I found no connectivity from one chapter to the next. I guess if you like to bounce around in a book that would be a plus. My last complaint is a minor personal annoyance - why did he have to use a different translation for every Bible quotation. Now he wasn’t at Rick Warren levels, but it did get a little annoying.
Overall, good book, worth reading for new believers, and yes for all of us who struggle with fear.
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