Who You Are When No One’s Looking
By Bill Hybels
April 24, 2010
© Tom Arthur
Rating: 6 out of 10

I’m not sure how to review this book.  It is an audio book, and I listened to most of it over an extended drive one day.  I’m not sure this is the best way to “read” and audio book.  The problem is that I don’t really remember much about the book.  Is the cause of this problem because of the method of reading it or because the book itself is mostly forgettable.  I tend to think it is the former, because when I was listening to it I do remember thinking at various times, “That was a helpful thought/illustration/description/distinction/etc.”  And yet very little of it stuck.  What to make of this?

One piece that did stick was Hybel’s description of the courage it takes to become a Christian.  He is reacting to the popular conception that being a Christian is for weak people who need a religious crutch.  Hybel’s draws a different picture.  He points out how it requires courage to confess the truth about yourself and repent.  People who critique Hybel’s and Willow Creek’s approach to ministry usually describe it as feel-good Christianity or self-help Christianity that is shallow and lacking depth.  I think the subtitles of each chapter can contribute to this perception (i.e. the chapter on courage is subtitled “Overcoming Crippling Fears” which sounds like it might fit quite well in the self-help section of the bookstore), and yet the content of this chapter on courage was anything but soft.  Hybels clearly lays out how we have to repent of our selfishness and our sin.  I do wonder whether the courage comes from us or from God.  This is a topic I don’t remember him discussion.  As well I would like to see Hybels speak more about issues of social justice, but he at least points in that general direction for others to build upon.

I thought about re-listening to this audio book, and even began to do so, but I just wasn’t inspired to keep it up a second time.  That’s why I gave it a six out of ten.