Jesus is a thief! This is the reasoning behind Chris Durso’s book ‘The Heist’. What did Jesus steal? Our shame, guilt and self blame. His weapon of choice in this robbery was grace by means of a cross.

The Heist was a captivating book. From the introduction through the final words I was struck by the compelling nature of Chris’s words and the frame in which he painted this picture of scandalous grace. “As you read, you are going to learn to live in the grace God has scandalously made available to you by adjusting how you think about yourself and how you think about God.”

The main approach he takes is to unpack the parable of the prodigal son and explain to his audience the factors that may seem hidden within the story, wrapping it up by showing how the father took on shame to reconcile with the son (the picture of Jesus be shamed on the cross in order to reconcile humanity – you). In this running to his son, the Father is exclaiming, all is forgiven, you are covered by my love. ” The father did the unspeakable: he ran to his son and covered him…. grace runs to meet you where you are and covers you completely.”

Does the premise seem confrontational to a religious mind? Yes and I believe that it should. However there exists within the pages of this book no improper theology, it is simply a point to cause one to see that Jesus on the cross created a way to remove shame and guilt from our lives. In his death he took from the devil the ability to have accusations rest on us with power – guilt now is little more than a blame game. Jesus not only robbed us of our shame, he robbed the devil of our souls.

Should you read this book? If you get the chance, pick it up! If anything it will change the way you view yourself.

“I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.”