Book Review: Unashamed

Lessons from Lecrae Moore’s Unashamed

On Christianity and Culture

Reading Unashamed, my biggest takeaway is the intersection of Christianity and Culture: how we (Christians) are called to influence and create culture. The only way to do this properly is by engaging culture, not running from it, and for us to be effective, we need to have a Biblical worldview: one that is shaped by Christ, but non-conformist to traditional Christian “religion”. This theme was reiterated across the entire book, but I like that Lecrae particularly spent time expounding on it towards the end.

“Because of Jesus, we don’t need to see culture as something to be avoided. It is something to be engaged. You cannot stomp something you’re running away from. You can’t influence something you never encounter.”

Writing this review, the first creative I thought about was Kanye West. Kanye is one person I admire and respect for many good reasons. Getting saved radically changed his life; but, he didn’t run from culture. Instead, he’s engaging it the ways he knows how to: through music and art. Another example is Justin Bieber. Even though their styles have changed, both of them haven’t stopped doing what they know how to do best. Now, they’re using their gifts to spread the light of God across the world, and because of them, many have come to know Jesus as Lord.

As believers, we don’t have to conform to either extreme on the Christian and secular-standard spectrum. This is why I find the Christian label placed on creatives discomfiting. When we call ourselves “Christian creatives”, we place restrictions on ourselves and the kind of content we put out, creating room for us to be perceived and judged as outliers. We confine ourselves to rules and boxes when we get saved, because you know, traditionally, Christians are not supposed to do certain things or be found in certain spaces.

I used to identify as a faith-based writer because I was predominantly writing “Christian” pieces. But sometime last year, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see how I had constrained myself and my gift to one space when there are so many other spaces to thrive in. This is not to say that there’s anything wrong with being labelled a Christian artist/creative. As much as you can be a Christian artist, you can also be an artist who is Christian. We’re all called into different spheres — whether it is to the body of Christ or the outside space. We can still stand for Jesus in unconventional spaces and be excellent without directly shouting His name from the rooftops. In Lecrae’s words,

“Every song I write doesn’t have to have the Gospel spelled out or quote Scripture so that people will know I love Jesus. My goal is just to use my gifts to produce great art that tells the truth about the world. If I see the world through a biblical lens, the music will naturally paint a picture that serves people and honors God.”

Art is art. You don’t see Christian art or gospel art, or secular art. You just see art. The difference only comes in when you have to think of the creator and the audience for which the piece was created, but still, art is art. A good painting will always be a good painting, whether it’s a painting of a church or an abstract scenery.

“You can be good at your craft and true to your faith at the same time.”

The Anomaly

The downside of being a creative who is Christian is that you never really fit in. But as Lecrae resounds in Unashamed, “If you live for people’s acceptance, you’ll die from their rejection”.

“Part of being human — and especially being Christian — means not fitting in, and the only solution is learning to look to God for ultimate recognition.” I wish I could dwell more here, but all that needs to be said has already been said. The source of our validation should primarily be Jesus. Not our skills, craft, art, audience, friends, or even family. And again, it’s perfectly okay not to fit into the conventional spaces and unrealistic expectations we’ve either created for ourselves or have had created for us.

Love

One point Lecrae mentioned was that Jesus’s favourite dinner companions were sinners and tax collectors — the worst of the worst. And I think this thing of our approach falls back to love; the more excellent way.

Love should be what drives us and compels us to be all we can be and do all we can do for the glory of God and the good of others.

The authenticity of Lecrae’s story has endeared me to him, and his message in Unashamed transcends the ages.