Recovering Our Sanity: How the Fear of God Conquers the Fears that Divide Us

by Michael Horton, Russell Moore (Foreword by)

Overview

How cultivating a healthy fear of God liberates us from our fear of others, our fear of the future, and even our fear of death itself.

At times the world feels like it's losing its mind. From politics to the pandemic, we live with an ever-increasing uncertainty, and many of us have grown to fear the rapid disintegration of our society and our own lives.

Recovering Our Sanity is not another self-help book about how to beat your daily fears for a better life. It's a book that will show you the gravity and glory of a God who's worthy of our fear. It’s a book that will reveal how these two biblical phrases—Fear God and Do Not Be Afraid—are not contradictory but actually one coherent message.

Michael Horton—Professor of Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary—shows us that we cannot fight our fears by seeking the absence of fear altogether, but by living with a fear of God that drives out the fear of everything else. Horton will walk you through the case for the fear of God by:

• Developing what it means to fear God, biblically and theologically, and what this kind of fear looks like in practice.
• Categorizing different types of fears—from cultural anxiety to pain and hardship—and what they stem from.
• Focusing on how to confront our earthly fears with our hope in Christ, rooted in the gospel.
• Reminding us that God does not exist for us; we exist for God.

Humbling, thought-provoking, and hope-igniting, Recovering Our Sanity delivers a timely message that will help you shift your focus from a human-centered obsession with self-preservation to a fixation on Christ and his salvation.

Rather than clinging to false securities and promises of immediate gratification, you can gain the lasting joy of knowing the One who has given himself to save us and who says to us, "Do not be afraid."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310127949
Publisher:	Zondervan
Publication date:	02/15/2022
Sold by:	HarperCollins Publishing
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	985 KB

About the Author

Michael S. Horton (PhD) is the J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California, founder and editor-in-chief of Sola Media, and host of the White Horse Inn, a weekly roundtable podcast on theology and culture. He is the author of more than thirty books, including Justification: Volumes 1 and 2 in Zondervan Academic’s New Studies in Dogmatics and The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

1 A Pandemic of Fear 1

Part I The Fear to End All Fears

2 What Does It Mean to Fear God? 21

3 Eyes toward Heaven 41

4 The Wisdom in Fear 58

5 Fears Relieved 74

Part 2 Facing Our Fears with Eyes Raised to God

Our Longing for Life

6 The "Sting" of Death Removed 97

7 Suffering Isn't Bad Karma 124

Our Daily Bread

8 A Secure Future 141

9 Stewards, Not Saviors 156

Confronting Our Fear of Each Other

10 Why We Fear Each Other 183

11 "Christian America" versus the Body of Christ 202

12 Religious Liberty: Cancel Culture and Persecution 222

13 LGBTQ+ Fears: People over Positions 238

14 Racial Fears: Redefining "Us" 255

Conclusion: Walking Each Other to the City of God 287

Acknowledgments 289

Notes 290

Editorial Reviews

'Recovering Our Sanity provides a biblical and historical foundation for developing (and perhaps changing) our thinking about the most polarizing issues of our day. We need reasoned argument grounded in scripture and gospel hope centered on Christ, which is exactly what this book provides.'

author and bible teacher Nancy Guthrie

'Yet again, Michael Horton has written a book that Christians across the nation—and around the world—need to pick up and read today. If sanity is going to be recovered, it needs to start in the church.'

U. S. Senator (Neb.) and author of Them: Why W Ben Sasse

'Horton shows you how to identify and fight against fear—supplanting the quivering of a limbic system with the adoration of a heart set free.'

Christianity Today Russell Moore

'Whether you're a church leader or a church member, do yourself a favor and pick up this book. Gather a group for discussion. Give it away for free. It's time to stop the insanity that divides us and embrace the sanity that comes from the fear of the Lord.'

Juan R. Sanchez

'When we lose a good fear of God, all kinds of bad fears rush in. But when we see other people from God's perspective, they're gifts and not threats. In this critical moment gripped by fear, we desperately need this message.'

John M. Perkins

'Horton offers not only a penetrating analysis of our current fear-driven cultural moment, but also provides a way forward that is both transcendent and timely. Do you need help and encouragement navigating the stormy seas of life? Then take up and read this important book.'

Julius J. Kim