Max Lucado’s book Fearless

I have read several books by Max Lucado and have always enjoyed them. The book Fearless was no exception. This book is an easy read filled with practical advice to help us face the fears in our lives. The book has 12 chapters each addressing a different kind of fear.

The three chapters that spoke to me were: Fear of Not Protecting My Kids, Fear of Overwhelming Challenges and Fear of Death. Lucado starts each chapter with a story. Some of the stories are about him and some are about people he has encountered. All of the stories are very entertaining while teaching a lesson or making a point. I enjoyed how Lucado also uses stories of Jesus from the bible but in an updated version.

In the Chapter called “Fear of Not Protecting My Kids”, Lucado gives advice for parents. He tells us that our children are not really “ours”; they really belong to God. He relates the story of Abraham and Jairus to show how much God and Jesus love children. He says that we should give our parenting fears to Christ instead of passing them on to our children. Lucado also says that fear can create permissive parents if we are so afraid that we can’t say no. He reminds us to send our children off each day with a blessing.

“Fear of Overwhelming Challenges” is very pertinent considering today’s economy. We don’t usually expect to see Jesus in the storms of our lives but it’s in storms that he does his best work. Lucado uses the biblical story of Peter and the disciples in the boat during a bad storm. He says that there is much power in Jesus’ words “Take courage. I am here.”

“Fear of Death”. Who hasn’t thought about dying and wondered what it’s going to be like. (I know of one person in particular who is very afraid of dying. I am going to give this chapter to him.) In this chapter Lucado tells about his dream of death. He agrees to go when his time is up if he can just say good-bye first. He says that “death is a passageway, a corner to be turned.” If we have faith, our fear of death is diminished. We believe that Jesus died and experienced resurrection and we will too.

Lucado tells us that 21 times in the bible Christ tells us to not be afraid. “Fear not!” The commandment to love God and our neighbor is only mentioned 8 times. He says that “fear corrodes our confidence in God’s goodness and that it can suck the life out of the soul.” Reading this book made me realize that while fear is a natural emotion, it doesn’t have to get in the way of living. I highly recommend this book!