I respect Dr. Edward Welch from some of his earlier works (a good example, Running Scared: Fear, Worry & the God of Rest). Now, he has a book for teenagers and young adults in which he answers a few fundamental questions. What Do You Think of Me? Why Do I Care?: Answers to the Big Questions of Life leads a reader into the reasons he may pander to his crowd by asking:

1. Who is God?
2. Who am I?
3. Who are these other people?

Whatever answers we give to these questions point to what we worship, and that’s the heart of the matter.

Welch offers a gentle path to freedom to anyone wise enough to walk with him. He describes true and false worship as being those things that are worthy of our love and those that aren’t. “Love the approval, acceptance, or love of other people; they will be like a god to you and control your life,” he writes. “It is a basic principle: the more you are controlled by God, the less you are controlled by other people. The more you love God, the less you will love the acceptance or recognition of others. So grit your teeth and get to work! Just kidding.”

I look forward to giving my daughters this book to help guard them against the fear of men, which I still find threatening. It’s probably the main reason I don’t feel as if I’ve fully grown up yet.