A couple months ago, I received a request to review the book, “Embracing Obscurity: Becoming Nothing in Light of God’s Everything.”  The book is self-proclaimed as “a call to stop imitating the world’s formula for success, and instead follow a different model: That of our humble King.” It is intriguing in that the author has made himself anonymous because he feels he could not “reconcile the message while simultaneously promoting myself, so I’ve chosen to take up the challenge of my own obscurity.”

Each human is not just one in a million. We are one in nearly seven billion.  The point of that little reminder is that “even if we’re well known in our little bubbles of influence- we’re relatively unknown in the grand scheme of history.”

The introduction of the book begins with approaching the issue of the current trend towards being… simply more than we are. As American society and the world drive the demand to be known and recognized, the church (and Christians) follow suit.  Christians can appear to be as drunk with the dream achievement and admiration as the biggest Hollywood star.  At the very core of this book, the author fully encourages a life of humility as we walk with Christ.

With ten topics to embrace, one per chapter, Mr. Anonymous defines significance, success, suffering, spotlight and more from a Biblical perspective.  The charts and discussion questions in this book streamlined my thought process towards a determination of whether I “suffer from a lack of self-confidence or an abundance of self-importance.”

As a blogger and writer, I have wrestled with the message of this book…and it has been good. The reasons I blog, write, use social media, and build a platform have been made clearer to me through reading this book.

So what are we called to do as Christians? Embrace obscurity or build platform?

I believe both.

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.   Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”- Matt. 5:15-17

The crux of this matter doesn’t come down to which overall view is more accurate, but the heart of the person doing either the embracing of obscurity or the building of platform. 

With that I bring you the standard disclosure that I was given this book by the publisher and all opinions are my own.  (I also find it quite ironic that the publisher chose me due to my potential “influence” on this topic…)

AND you can win Embracing Obscurity if you’ll follow the giveaway instructions below.

AND I’m writing for my beloved RooMag today- please stop by there and say hello? I’m offering 8 strategies for finding strength.
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