Without faith, the extraordinary Christian experience cannot exist, writes Wilhite (It's a Wonderful Life... Really!). Faith, although difficult to define, serves many purposes, can be demonstrated in multifaceted ways and is best observed during times of great emotional, physical or spiritual stress. Indeed, he writes, faith inspires the hopeless, cheers the saddened and strengthens the weary. Although these arguments are potentially inspiring, Wilhite's text remains unexciting, rehearsing familiar discussions and contributing little that is new. Wilhite urges Christians to use their faith to purposefully seek after God. Drawing from Hebrews 11, he deals plainly with the devastation wrought by biblical heroes and their struggles with sin. In his chapter on leaving a legacy of faith, he describes how God differentiated between Cain's and Abel's sacrifices and was displeased with Cain because he succumbed to the rite of tradition rather than honoring God with authentic, living worship. Wilhite also cites other enemies of authentic worship (which he calls "riptides"), whose focus includes an outward pomp and show of religious life and the ever-escalating burden of an envious heart. As he topically works to present a case for pursuing God beyond mere words, Wilhite rather ploddingly dissects and defines faith. Those who are new to faith may find what they need in this compilation of Christianity 101, but seasoned believers will likely be bored by Wilhite's same-old, same-old approach to living in passionate pursuit of God. (June)
