Stephen Covey is a well-known motivator and encourager. His books, speeches, and presentations have dominated the world of self-help resources. So what about Everyday Greatness? Covey remains in his traditional stream of thought, but presenting stories and pithy proverbs to demonstrate attributes that he believes are characteristic of great people (charity, integrity, patience, etc.). Yet, his approach is informed by a faulty understanding of people (that we are basically good) with a faulty ambition for life (be the greatest you can be) and will ultimately lead to a faulty end (failure and emptiness).

While aiming to help people, what Covey has written essentially provides a Book of Virtues for “happy-addicts.” In other words, he is telling the reader “You’re a good person who wants to be happy. These are some inspirations to take that goodness and make you great, so that you’ll be really happy!” That may be the logic of the world, but in the life of the Christian disciple, this sort of thinking lacks grace, Biblical standing, and will ultimately only produce bad fruit. The discerning reader would look, instead, to Jesus Christ and find true greatness (Philippians 2).

Fear defines much about us as human beings. We’re afraid of so many things: the consequences of sin; of ourselves; of what errors we might make; of finances, of catastrophe. It is a part of the human condition. It’s part of what Jesus came to defeat. That is precisely what Max Lucado sets out to confront in Fearless. Working through the nature of fear, and the different kinds of situations that we face fear as sinners, parents, people who aren’t in control, and victims of circumstance, Lucado points the reader again and again to Jesus and the power of this great Savior Who dealt with our sin – the very source of fear.

I very much admire the approach that Lucado takes in this book. This book is seasoned with grace, appropriate levels of humor and the ever-present reality of what our fallenness has done to us. He does well to tell the reader, certainly with a communicative charm, that if they are fearing, they are not giving Jesus His due and the attention and trust that He has shown conclusively and decisively that He deserves. This is a helpful resource for meditating on Jesus’ defeat of our fear.

How can I deal with sin that just sticks with me? How can I survive the tough times that come my direction? Why should I worry about my friend’s Christian walk? What’s the point of reading my Bible and praying regularly? Although these questions seem only loosely related, Mark Hall’s Your Own Jesus does a tremendous job of presenting the truth that everyone needs to be in a saving, enduring relationship with the God of the universe.

“God has no grandchildren” as the saying goes and Mark shows convincingly the need for believers to not depend on their parents, churches, friends, or books and music to be their source of experiencing Jesus. Believers need to be in their own intimate walk with the Savior Who bought them with His own blood and will bring good, lasting fruit into their lives. For anyone who considers themselves a disciple of Jesus, this book is highly recommended as a helpful resource as you pursue Christ and get to know the One and Only Jesus Christ.