keira anne with an e

“When it comes to the world’s problems, it seems we know who to blame: them. The other party, team, tribe, or belief system. It’s natural to ignore the log in our own eye while seeing the specks in others’, but it might just leave us all blind and bound.

Through personal stories, cultural anecdotes, scientific data, and biblical wisdom, Nathan Clarkson invites you to join him in a different, better way of living―one that begins with admitting our own failures and faults, and leads to forgiveness and redemption.

There’s freedom in God’s grace―freedom for you and for the rest of the imperfect world too.“

-synopsis via amazon

Disclaimer: as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Thanks to Kregel Publishing for sending me a complimentary copy of this book for review. All thoughts expressed are my own.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5 stars)

For years, I have listened to Sally Clarkson’s podcast, read her books, read books by Sarah, Joel, and Joy Clarkson– so I was very excited when the opportunity rose to read a book by Nathan Clarkson. Truly, this family’s books basically make up my entire nonfiction library.

Besides, as someone who has given a lot of thought to the ideas behind this book, I really appreciated the way that Nathan addressed some very important and difficult to tackle parts of the Christian faith. The idea that we really are the worst, and that we need the Best to take away our sin and make us clean again… let me just say there were several very convicting and underline-able (yes, that’s now a word) passages in this book that I think will really stick with me.

This book was a relatively short read, but in that time, we managed to cover a wide range of topics. I feel that Nathan Clarkson achieved a short commentary of the human dilemma of judging while at the same time trying to hide our own flaws, so we may not be judged by them.

I enjoyed how he organized the book, and the way we talked about the journey to redemption starting with the realization that we really are the worst. He continually referenced movie, book, and even video game characters to illustrate this journey, which really helped bring it to life.

I do want to put a few trigger warnings out there: this book briefly touches on a lot of hard topics– from upsetting news headlines to stories of brutal massacres, self-harm thoughts, and more. I think that should definitely be kept in mind when going to give this one a try. Also, there was one use of “h*ll”, and one use of “b*st*rd” when quoting a movie script. But, yes, this one does deal with some tougher topics, but it was handled from a Christian POV, which I really appreciated.

Again, I just want to recommend this book, especially if you’ve ever struggled with the idea of being “the worst”, or the balance between being a “good Christian”, but actually being a “bad sinner”, if that makes any sense. (Also, I am now wrapping up this review because I have used quotation marks too many times.)

Thanks again to Kregel Publishing for sending me such a beautiful paperback of this great read. I really appreciate it, and I’m very glad I picked it up.

As always, thanks for listening to me share my bookish thoughts. Have you read any convicting or insightful non-fiction recently? I’d love to chat about it in the comments section!