Forgiveness by Matthew West

This small book weaves together the words of the author’s hit song, others’ brief accounts concerning forgiveness and West’s insights around the topics of forgiving others, asking for forgiveness, forgiving yourself and embracing God’s forgiveness. While many of the topics were very basic and even self-evident, there were good insights. One of the most profound was from a survivor’s story: “Sometimes what we think of as rejection is really protection.” This book was thought provoking and insightful, using Scripture very effectively. It is written in a conversational style, not like a theological treatise, which makes it feel more approachable. While there are better and deeper books on forgiveness, this volume is a good choice for an introductory look at a very difficult subject. The one drawback was that after a while it felt very formulaic: song words, short story, author’s narration, again and again. Because of the seesawing between stories surrounding forgiveness and the author’s narrative, the book can feel a bit disjointed. I received this book for free in exchange for my unbiased review through the Thomas Nelson BookSneeze Program.