Erwin McManus, pastor of Mosaic in Los Angeles, wants to help people shake that little bit of sadness they have when the wake up in the morning. The key, he says, is for people to learn to dream with their eyes wide open. This message to the world is the purpose of his latest book, Wide Awake: The Future is Waiting Within You. He outlines his plan in nine steps: dream, discover, adapt, expect, focus, create, enjoy, invest, and imagine.

If you’ve been reading over the past week or so, you already know that I’ve struggled greatly with this book. McManus and I have very different views on a lot of things. He feels that the biggest problem in the world is our failure to develop untapped human potential. I feel that the biggest problem in the world is that there are people lost to their sin. He believes the main function of the church is to make the world a better place. I believe the main function of the church is to “To proclaim Christ to everyone, so that we might present them complete in Him.” (Colossians 1:28-29)

In light of that, this was a very hard book for me to read, let alone review. McManus and I see the world through such different eyes that makes it nearly impossible for me to find any sort of common ground.

My initial impression of the book is that it is a retooled Prayer of Jabez, written in the style of Velvet Elvis, with a sprinkling of Dale Carnegie thrown in for good measure. And while in a few places McManus said things that almost seemed to contradict some of his earlier statements, he never fully redeemed himself.

In the end, I’m disappointed and a little confused. McManus first says that God has a fantastic life for all of us if we’d just quit being afraid to dream big, then he reminds us that God doesn’t really need our help. He mentions that he is nothing without the grace of God, but seems to think that the main purpose of God’s grace is to make our world a nicer place to live. He is careful to say that God’s plans for us might not be for an easy life. And to his credit, he is careful to dispel any misunderstanding that they key to happiness is wealth and success, but he doesn’t offer any warning to check our motives. Christians are often guilty of putting a spiritual stamp on a selfish endeavor in order to assuage our consciences. (And bear in mind that an endeavor doesn’t have to be financially lucrative to be selfish — praise of man is a powerful motivator.) McManus assumes that if we really want to do something, then it must be from God. I don’t think that’s always the case.

It’s been my observation that most of the time when Christians wake up in the morning with “that little bit of sadness”, it’s because they are trying to find their joy in their circumstances, instead of in Christ alone. McManus never even considers the possibility that sometimes life is simply mundane. We are never going to be satisfied in this world, which is why the Bible instructs us to set our minds on things above.

There is probably going to be a lot of publicity on this book. I received the advanced reader copy from the publisher weeks ago, and I have read that Barnes and Noble has placed it on their front displays. And while a person who had perhaps been running from God might find in these pages the courage to step forward in faith, I believe the most common scenario is going to be the people who come away from this book feeling that God is going to bestow them with some fabulously successful ministry if they just embrace their dreams. It often takes more courage to stay right where we are, doing what we’re already doing. Unfortunately, that option is never offered.

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A few summers ago, the father of Alex and Brett Harris put them on an intense reading program. They spent months reading books on subjects like philosophy, theology, and history, to name a few. And after reading those books, they decided that it was time to sound a wake-up call.

They decided that society had such low expectations for teenagers that a good teenager was defined by what he didn’t do (e.g., drink and do drugs), rather than what he did do. Teens, they say, are capable of making big changes and doing good, but instead have bought into the cultural expectation that the teen years are a time of rebellion and goofing off.

They launched a blog for teens named “Rebelution,” a word they created by combining the words “rebellion” and “revolution.” They interned on the Alabama supreme court. They got a lot of good press, worked hard on some political campaigns. They have certainly proven their theory.

Alex and Brett assert that society’s current perception of the teenage years is a new one. In fact, first recorded use of the word “teenager” was in 1941. In previous times, people were either children or adults. And adult behavior was expected much earlier than it is today.

George Washington was county surveyor, doing a man’s job, at seventeen. David Farragut was commander of a ship by age twelve. The idea that people in the teen years can’t be responsible is inaccurate. Alex and Brett hope to point teens to a better way. They do so by harnessing two human characteristics — our tendency to rebel and succumb to peer pressure — and use it in a positive manner:

Most people don’t expect you to understand what we’re going to tell you in this book. And even if you understand, they don’t expect you to care. And even if you care, they don’t expect you to do anything about it. And even if you do something about it, they don’t expect it to last.

Well, we do.

Sprinkled among the inspiring stories of real teens who have accomplished great things, from running political campaigns to starting ministries, they lay out their plan for becoming a rebelutionary: go outside your comfort zone, go beyond what’s expected, learn to collaborate, do things that don’t have an immediate payoff, and take a stand for what is right.

There is nothing new under the sun, and there is nothing new in this book. The virtues of working hard and showing integrity are something all parents hope to instill in their children. But while we hope for more, our society certainly doesn’t expect much from teens. Alex and Brett hope to inspire teens to dream big and work hard.

I do think this is a good book for teens to read. Parents can preach the concepts of a good work ethic, but to see it modeled by their peers is going to inspire them in a way that parents cannot. Alex and Brett emphasize the importance of listening to the advice of older and wiser adults and staying plugged in to the local church. They are also writing from a solid biblical stance, even including a section on salvation.

Alex and Brett, along with the young men and women profiled in this book, are an excellent example for teens to follow. There’s a lot of bad examples for teenagers today. Let’s hope that positive examples like Alex and Brett can point them to a better way.

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You can call it whatever you want — low self-esteem, insecurity, codependency, peer pressure — everyone, at some time, worries about what others think of them. In When People Are Big And God Is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man, Ed Welch takes the wisdom of the world and turns it on its head, showing us the real reason why we allow what others think of us to loom so large in our minds.

Dr. Welch examines secular teaching on co-dependency — which has been largely co-opted by Christian authors and teachers — and then points us to a more biblical mindset. Our feelings of inadequacy and insecurity does not stem from things that happened in our childhoods. Those feelings instead can be traced back to our first parents. Just as Adam and Eve hid in the garden because of the shame of their sin, we to our trying to hide our shame and fear exposure.

We do not need to learn to love ourselves, nor are we empty vessels that need to be filled with praise and love from other people. We are created beings that were designed to worship our Creator. But instead of worshiping the Creator, we worship the creation. There’s a word for that: idolatry — and it never satisfies.

In this book, Welch instructs us to develop a healthy fear of God. It is only when we give God the glory He deserves are we able to think of ourselves less. The opinions others hold of us will then matter less, and only then are we able to need people less and start loving them more.

Running Scared: Fear, Worry, and the God of Rest by the same author was one of the most helpful books I have ever read. We need more authors like Edward T. Welch who are able to help us think biblically about our emotions and fears. I highly recommend this book.

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