When People Are Big and God Is Small Critical Review

Book Review: When People Are Big and God is Pocket-size

Have you always started reading a volume and thought, "This is exactly what I needed!"? Well I wouldn't be a bit surprised if you did the same for Edward Welch's volume When People are Big and God is Small.
Everyone, immature and erstwhile, deals with peer pressure in ane grade or another. It's a very hard battle! This book attempts to assist believers sympathise how to interpret and handle our "fear of man."
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The first chapter clearly lays out the consequence existence dealt with, and how unlike groups of people have gone about handling it. It includes a personal story about how the author himself has struggled with the issue of peer pressure level and an honest admission that the surface level biblical answers were not enough to help him. Welch sees the American civilization coming to the end of a phase that focused on codependency.
This was the idea of being controlled or unhealthily being dependent on other people. Secular civilization's respond to this was "honey yourself more." Christians responded to this by maxim that God loves you more than than you remember.
The author contends that the secular reply is incorrect, biblically speaking, and that the answer that Christians have come up with is incomplete. Yes, God'southward love is amazing, and information technology is paramount to agreement ourselves in lite of His love toward us, but substantially, the focus is wrong. With both answers, the focus is self. Welch uses the rest of the book to explain his perspective and requite advice on how to biblically deal with being nether the control of other people, whether it be in terms of codependency, peer force per unit area, or the fear of man.
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The book starts with how and why we fear others. Welch states that we fear people because they can humiliate, reject, and oppress us. We can exist humiliated when our sin is exposed. He reminds us that nosotros are deficient considering of our sin and have no reason to experience skilful about ourselves, apart from Christ'south work. Our shame was taken away when we were declared forgiven because of Christ'south work on the cantankerous. However, the author goes one step further hither by encouraging united states to check if we have sin that needs confessed that is rightly making us fear people because of the possibility of exposure.
We fear rejection because people are our favorite idol, and and then we are more concerned near looking stupid than we are about acting sinful. People are created beings and exercise non deserve our loyalty or worship. We think they have power to requite us something we desire or think we demand. Indeed, this does requite them ability, and soon, we are at their mercy without fifty-fifty realizing it. Information technology also reveals where we put our trust.
In the next department, the writer attempts to explain how to overcome the fright of human being. This is the majority of the book. He gives several steps:

"Identify where your fear of man has been intensified by the assumptions of the globe. " He goes into such things equally emphasizing self-esteem, assumptions about God, emotions beingness an ultimate authorisation, etc.

"Understand and grow in the fright of the Lord. The person who fears God will fear nothing else." He advisedly defines what true "fear of the Lord" is and points the readers to the awesomeness of God.

"Examine where your desires have been as well big. When we fear people, people are big, our desires are even bigger, and God is pocket-sized." People tend to call back that they need someone else to do something and then that things can change or get better, only actually, we need to take responsibility for the function nosotros play and change our thinking. He discusses what God says nosotros "need." Having desires is fine, but how much nosotros desire something or for what purpose we want information technology is the key. The Bible speaks of denying self rather than feeling better nearly ourselves. Jesus didn't die to increase our self-esteem. Information technology's all about bringing glory to the Father. It doesn't go far plenty to praise God for what He has washed for me. God deserves praise merely because He is God.

Here are 2 questions the author uses to compare what should be our old way of thinking verses our new: "Where tin can I detect my worth?" versus "Why am I so concerned about myself?"
Positives
Edward Welch has a wealth of knowledge to laissez passer onto us that I am grateful to do my best to glean. I establish it wonderfully refreshing that he admitted that the same old answers don't go deep plenty. His use of modernistic language (peer pressure, co-dependency, etc) helps the reader come across how the Bible actually does speak to today's issues. His examples from his own counseling experiences are invaluable every bit they assist the reader see how the biblical principles play out in someone's life. The reflective questions he uses actually modify your perspective of the situation. The review sections at the end of each chapter make information technology like shooting fish in a barrel for this volume to exist studied equally a grouping.
Constructive
As I stated, the get-go chapter was my favorite. Unfortunately, subsequently the third or fourth affiliate I started losing interest. I was hungry for "the respond" to the issue the author had prepare upwardly so well in the showtime chapter, however; after reading the book twice, I nonetheless didn't have a clear idea virtually what to practise well-nigh fearing man and making people big while minimizing God. After combing through it for the purposes of writing this review, I could encounter more than clearly his "reply" for combating the fear of man, just it seems every bit though the message got lost amongst a lot of skillful counseling information that could have been left out or organized differently.
Conclusion
The danger with all book reviews is to assume the review is enough to get all the good stuff out of the book. On the contrary, I could not possibly fit all the good information this author has to share with united states in this simple review. Please consider reading the book yourself to glean even more than good insight about this topic and how to battle information technology in your ain life (you lot tin borrow my copy!). It is worth the read though the "answer" may not be as clear and concise equally one would promise. I would attempt to sum up the reply using this one sentence based on the book: "Nosotros should let go of self-business by fearing God and knowing our grace-motivated duty."

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Source: https://firstfamily.church/2016/03/book-review-when-people-are-big-and-god-is-small/

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