When it comes to highly anticipated, much hyped bestsellers or box office hits, I tend to either be a latecomer or I simply choose not to get involved at all. Case in point: I didn’t see “Titanic” until it was released on video [yes, I do regret not having seen it on the big screen]. I don’t watch “Lost” and unless I can find a way to sequester myself for an entire week and watch the 100+ previous episodes, I probably never will. And despite being a church-going American Protestant woman, I have never read Bruce Wilkinson’s “The Prayer of Jabez”. I did hear sermons from the book, belong to a large suburban church that offered classes on the book, and watched the frenzy of activity that surrounded the book.
The jacket for Mr. Wilkinson’s latest book, You Were Born for This, states that it is written in the same “engaging style” as his previous work. I remember hearing criticism about the message conveyed by “The Prayer of Jabez”. Having just read this new book, I believe I can understand why some readers might have misunderstood the author’s intentions and misinterpreted the purpose of the prayer. Let me explain.
You Were Born for This, co-written with David Kopp, is subtitled “7 Keys to a Life of Predictable Miracles”. Its basic premise is that God desires for His children to deliver miracles to those around them and that He will empower all who are willing to do so. The book is filled with Scripture references that substantiate this idea. Mr. Wilkinson goes on to describe what he calls Four Miracle Life Keys, Five Signals that Guide a Miracle Delivery, and Three Keys to Special Delivery Miracles. By implementing these techniques, Christians can unlock their “miracle potential”.
With no disrespect intended, I have to confess that when I read the words “miracle potential”, I immediately heard echoes of infomercials offering me keys to unlocking my “fat burning potential” or my “money making potential”. And therein lies the problem I had with this book. I felt as if I was trying to be won over by a pitchman, rather than being taught Biblical principles. Let me immediately follow-up by stating that I firmly believe the author’s objective in writing this book was completely honorable. And I feel certain this style of teaching will appeal to an enormous group of believers, as evidenced by the success of his previous works. If you’ve learned anything about me, you know I love a good story and this book is filled with many accounts of amazing, supernatural events. But I found the continual use of phrases like “partnering with God” to be distracting and, quite frankly, irritating.
I completely believe in the idea that Mr. Wilkinson is selling. I just have trouble with the idea that he is, well, selling. I’ll be anxious to hear what other readers have to say about this book.
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