Book Review: Truefaced

TrueFaced: Bruce McNicoll, John Lynch and Bill Thrall, Colorado Spring. CO: NavPress, 2005, 160p

Overview—Give a brief overview of the book, including its theme, perspective and approach.
Truefaced is a call by its authors to resist and recover from the pressure to conform to outward expectations, from oneself or from others, and to live authentic lives in the grip of God’s grace. Through personal anecdotes, theological reflections, Biblical insights, and post chapter summaries, the authors seek to challenge and equip the reader to shed mere appearances and discover the gifts of love, repentance, and forgiveness. The perspective is warmly evangelical and the approach is from a practical theology angle.

Critique—Offer a brief critique of the book, including elements of strength and weakness.
TrueFaced is well written and balanced in content. The authors identify many “nerves” the reader will respond to. I found the most powerful metaphor to be the illustration of living in the “Room of Good Intentions” where the main value is “Striving to Be All God Wants Me to Be” versus living in the “Room of Grace” where to humbly trust God is to please Him. This dominating metaphor powerfully exposes the tension most Christians feel and calls us all back to grace. Also helpful was the material on the three phases of growing into maturity in the room of grace (healing the needy Christian, maturing the healing Christian, and releasing the maturing Christian.
In critique, I found the language to be a bit too “Eldridge-esque” for my tastes (“God dreams that you would discover your destiny and walk into the reasons he placed you on this earth..., A whole lot of folks are waiting for you to walk into your destiny and into their lives.”). Also, as I read I also often said to myself, “Good point, but _________ said it better”. Authors such as Jerry Bridges on grace, C.J. Mahaney on the Cross Centered Life, Tim Keller on idols of the heart, or Ken Sande on forgiveness, build a stronger theological case, with out the vague hint of Keswick quietism I tasted in a couple places. Finally, I’m not convinced that seeing oneself as a “saint who sins” rather than a “sinner saved by grace” is all that crucial. It did not seem to be important for Paul (1 Timothy 1:15) and can actually perpetuate the problem the authors seek to solve. Perhaps the classic “simil justus et peccator” will suffice in the end.


Application—Offer some specific application to your own ministry— demonstrating the value and relevance of the material in this book.
As I mentioned above, the illustration of the two rooms was worth the price of the book. I found this an excellent way to frame the way we tend to approach God when we lose sight of grace. I found my self saying, “yep, I’ve spent some time in that room!” and “yes, my banner has been ‘working on my sin to achieve an intimate relationship with God.’” I find a concrete metaphor such as this very helpful in assessing my own spiritual direction and as a tool to counsel others who tend to “fall from grace” into personal achievement. The call to shed the slavery of keeping up appearances and to live “truefaced” is one that each Christian need to hear, and hear often.

Best Quote—Be sure to include the page number where the quote can be found.
p.46 “Pleasing is not a means to our personal godliness, it is the fruit of our godliness for it is the fruit of trust. We will never please God through our efforts to become godly. Rather, we will only please God - and become godly - when we trust God”