A False Hope?

In A Life without Limbs, Nick Vujicic mingles motivational speaking with tales of his challenges and victories as a result of being born without any limbs. I appreciate his story, as one who cannot relate, but can value him who through faith is living an abundant life. It stands in stark contrast to many of us who are merely "surviving" in life. Having recently moved to a new city, this in particular struck me: "You have to screen out panic mode thoughts like Oh my gosh, what did I do? and focus forward along the lines of This is a great adventure" (page 149).

HOWEVER, I struggle intensely with much of his message. The bulk of the book is a long strand of cheap motivation quotes, spreading what I believe is not a christian message but a secular one of "self love." These are some examples, "Remember, God helps those who help themselves" (16). Where does God say he only helps those who CAN do it themselves? Or, "You must believe in your own beauty," and "to be fulfilled, you must know in your heart that you are I worthy of success and happiness. You must love yourself..." (77). And "Without trust in the possibilities for your life, where would we be?... They keep us moving through the inevitable hard times" (63). These sound nice and pretty but not one of them points to real reliance and neediness for Jesus. They promote Self satisfaction, not God satisfaction. Valuing self for SELF not valuing self for God. Valuing SELF possibilities, not God overcoming our troubles. We are a culture that all to often turns to ourselves for the answers.

This is what the bible says, "Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency comes from God" (ESV, 2 Corinthians 3:5).

While I hate to be a whistle blower on a book laced with many cool stories of a man overcoming unimaginable obstacles to live his dreams, I was also deeply disappointed in his cheap reproduction of Hallmark prose.

I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.