The Shack

So I thought I would take some time to do a little book review with some talking points about this wonderful treasure of a book called “The Shack.” It was a present from my sister this Christmas. After sitting down and reading it in a span of a few hours I may just say it is the best Christmas present I have received in years. The book was so moving and so touching that quite a few of the pages in my book have tear stains. Never in my years have I read a book quite like it. I can promise you this, if you go into the book with an open mind, knowing that it is fiction, yet still backed by Biblical principles, it will change your life.

“The Shack” is about a man who lost his daughter in a tragic murder. Years later he receives a note in the mail inviting him back to the place of his deepest, darkest sorrows. The letter appears to be from God. Mack wrestles with the idea of whether or not to go back. Of course he decides to go to the shack and there is where it gets interesting. He has a chance encounter with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. In the span of a weekend Mack’s life changes and he is able to release what has been holding onto him. He releases the hatred of the man who murdered his daughter, he is able to finally forgive himself, and finally is able to forgive God. The book, while no one can truly know how a weekend with God might play out, brings a good lesson to the table. If you are looking for a book that is quote after quote of Scripture, this isn’t the book for you, but if you are looking for a book that will challenge you to the very core of who you are, how you view others, and how you view God…then this IS the book for you.

Many of us have not had to endure what the main character of this book had to endure, but I can say without a doubt that we all carry wounds. We all have a “Great Sadness” in our lives. It is something we don’t like to talk about. Maybe we are in the midst of the “Great Sadness” or maybe we have tried to push it deep down inside so we can pretend to have a normal life. Well, let me tell you, unless it is dealt with it will never go away. One of the lessons I took from this book is that sin happens in this world and that’s why bad things happen to good people. It isn’t God sitting upon His throne, punishing his children. It is God allowing for His children to make decisions and from those decisions good and bad consequences come. Now just because you have a wound, that doesn’t mean it’s of your own doing. God gives all people free will and you may be unfortunate enough to suffer a wound at the hands of someone else’s bad decision.

All this, however, doesn’t mean that you should sit back and sulk. God’s purpose for us is to life FULL lives. As long as we hang onto the shadows in our lives…we will not live full lives. And that is the big challenge. How do we go from the shadow to the light? Well, we let go and lay it before God. God truly does love us. And “The Shack” does a wonderful job of illustrating that. I can’t even begin to describe just how much He loves us. It’s hard to put into words, but what I can say is that He loves us so much He endured the Cross for us. He wants nothing more for us than to live in the freedom that comes from the Blood of Christ. And that really is the main point of the book. Really, it is the main point of the Bible. It isn’t about rules, it is about relationships. I fully believe that if we as Christians focused more on building relationships (aka bridges) instead of rules (aka walls) we’d see the amount of wounded Christians decrease.

I know that in my own life, if I had focused on relationships…I wouldn’t be in the midst of my own “Great Sadness.” But the clincher for me is that I have the ability to let go of my “Great Sadness” and live a full life. My prayer is that it does in fact happen. Hearts will need to be changed, paradigms must be shifted, and perceptions must be checked for change to happen. The author states it like this: “Paradigms power perception and perceptions power emotions. Most emotions are responses to perceptions - what you think about a given situation. If your perception is false, then your emotional response to it will be false, too.” How many times have we let our emotions get the best of us? This to me is what keeps us in the darkness. Acts 17:11 “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” Even in the Book of Acts we are shown that we must examine our faith and the Scriptures. May we not sit back and trust our emotions and what we “know” to be “true.” Instead may we each day examine our hearts and rid ourselves of the cancers that will constantly keep us from growing in the Lord.

Overall the book delivers a good message. I would encourage all who read it to remember Acts 17:11 and to not be tripped up on things that seem…out of Scripture. Take the book and use it as a tool to reexamine your own life. What do you have in your life that is a wall? Knock it out so you can knock down the wall. Look to build bridges and develop relationships. God loves you, so let that love overflow.