Review: Altar Ego

Altar Ego: Becoming Who God Says You Are

By Craig Groeschel

Zondervan 2013

233 pages

For review 

On any given day, how do you feel about yourself? Do you feel like you are failing at the things you hoped to achieve? Are you depressed by how others see you? In Altar Ego, Craig Groeschel tells his readers that we are searching for self-worth in the wrong places.

"My ego, that self-constructed identity I worked so hard to build, came from a twisted combination of my accomplishments and other people's opinions of me. If you liked me, I felt good. If you didn't, I felt bad. If I succeeded, won, or made the grade, I felt worth something. If I fell short, lost, or failed, I felt worthless. I loved myself just as conditionally as I assumed everyone else  did. That Saturday morning, I realized I didn't have to continue this way. Someone did love me unconditionally."  

This book is divided into three sections. In the first, Groeschel urges readers to leave behind the labels that we are given in this life by others and realize that the ways we have lived in the past do not have to be the ways we act in the future. God creates each person with unique skills and places them on this earth at a certain time so that they can find meaning in their lives and fulfill a specific purpose. 

In parts two and three, he addresses things that can prevent us from achieving our goals, such as impatience, and a lack of integrity, honor, or gratitude. Once we have dealt with those behaviors, it's time to become bold. If God is a God of big plans, then we too must be prepared to do bold things. 

Altar Ego is an easy read with big potential to change the way you view your life and yourself. Groeschel writes in a very conversational manner and often points out his own failings with humor and grace. At times though, his emphasis on using his own life as example makes a book about losing your ego seem strangely ego-centric. While this may not be a book you will run out in the street to rave about, it is a good pick for the  reader who is looking to find renewed purpose in their lives.


To the ladies and gents of the FTC: I received this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.