Recently, I picked up Lecrae's book "Unashamed" at Hobby Lobby because 1) it was on sale for $12 and 2) I wasn't too busy the past few weeks of this summer and there's only so much netflix to watch.
AND I LOVED IT. 10/10 I couldn't put this down and I think everyone should read it.
Anyone that deals with fatherlessness, drugs, alcohol, feeling alone, acceptance, works righteousness, being lukewarm, legalism.... this book is for you. Now, before you say "I don't listen to his music, or I don't really like him" understand that yes, I have heard his music before but that's not what I really listen to, but boy does he have some good things to say so I pulled some of my favorite quotes from each chapter to hopefully spark your interest.
0. Red Carpet Treatment
"if you live for people's acceptance, you'll die from their rejection"
1. Daddy Issues
"Because I felt like my dad valued drugs more than having me as a son, I've constantly wrestled with my self-worth and craved the approval of others. Because I thought the person who should have found me easy to love didn't, I wondered if I was worthy of love."
2. Nowhere to Run
"There are few guarantees in life, but you can count on this: if you ignore your wounds, they will not go away."
3. A Fragmented Life
"If you don't know you're lost, you can't be led, And if you can't be honest, you can't be healed."
4. Lost Man on Campus
"(College) It's like hitting the reset button on life, No one knows what you've done or who you are. You can take all you've learned as a child and teenager and construct the person you want to be. College allows you to make better decisions, better friends, and a better future. There's only one catch: when the opportunity comes, you actually have to take it."
5. Take Me As I Am
"What is the difference between faith and saving faith anyway?"
6. Who Am I Foolin'?
"I had finally been set free, but I was about to find out if I could live free. A person can be removed from slavery in an instant, but it takes a lifetime for slavery to be removed from a person."
"Your true character is revealed not by how you act when life goes your way, but how you act when the bottom falls out."
"But when people try to avoid suffering by sinning, they end up sinning their way into suffering."
7. Welcome to Rehab
"moments of weakness are opportunities for God to show Himself strong."
"I'd been celebrating things I should have been ashamed of, and I had been ashamed of what I should have been celebrating."
"I assumed that becoming a Christian would make life easier.....This turns out to be a lie that too many people believe....It certainly doesn't mean that your problems will disappear. Rather than ridding you of problems or temptations, following Jesus just means that you have a place-- no, a person-- to run to when they come. And the power to overcome them."
"We fool ourselves into thinking that when we're 'born again' we come out of the womb walking."
8. Confessions of a Christian Rapper
"I would have told you that I didn't believe good works could earn me salvation, but I was living like they could."
"My sin of course is the source of my heart break"
9. Memphis Moment
"The Christian faith is not just a religious truth..but the total truth about all reality."
10. Kicking Down Hell's Door
"As I dreamed, fear crept in. The voices in my head began to taunt me. To tell me not to follow my calling."
11. The Outsiders
"You know your heart is in trouble when luxuries become expectations."
"I began realizing that people on yachts weren't happier than people in rowboats."
"success is not what I've done compared with what others have done. Success is what I've done compared with what God has called me to do."
12. God's Poetry
"But when we see the world through a divided lens, we can easily end up living divided lives. We act one way in church...Then we act another way when we're out with our friends in "secular" spaces. And the result is that the thins of God rarely come into contact with or influence the world."
I might have just written the entire book, but it's good (even my brother who hardly reads at all read it and liked it) so if you're still reading this, I hope you pick it up or you can borrow my copy.
