Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman

Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus Christ by Kyle Idleman is a book that will cause you to heavily evaluate your own life and truly figure out where you stand in your relationship with Jesus Christ. Are you truly a follower or are you a fan (an enthusiastic admirer)? He begins with a passage of scripture from Matthew 7 where Jesus talks about a day when everyone will stand before God and some that were confident in their standing with Him will hear, “I never knew you. Away from me.” A sobering thought and not one that I want to hear on that day. Throughout the rest of the book, Idleman works on helping us diagnose whether we are a fan or a follower. He breaks up the book into three sections; Part 1: Fan or Follower? An Honest Diagnosis, Part 2: An Invitation to Follow, and Part 3: Following Jesus. Wherever. Whenever. Whatever. Part 1 is all about us defining where our relationship with God is. Idleman takes us to the Gospels and uses the examples of the people that Jesus came in contact with as case studies for us to study. Then at that point we have to ask ourselves whether we are a fan or a follower. Part 2 is causing us to look at where we are in light of the Gospel. The chapter that got to me the most is on totally surrendering yourself to God. So often we try to keep a hold of things, but the only way to truly becoming a completely committed follower of Jesus is to completely surrender ourselves to Him. This is something that I struggle with, but having read this book and especially that chapter, it’s something that I now understand and am working towards. As we get into Part 3, we realize the demand it takes to be a follower. There is no break. To be a follower, it’s a decision to follow wherever, whenever, and whatever He decides. This isn’t something to be taken lightly, but our eternity is at stake. Don’t forget about those in Matthew chapter 7 that heard words from God they thought they would never hear because they were “certain” that they were followers.

Special thanks to Zondervan for providing this complimentary book to read and review. You can purchase the book here on amazon.com.