Book Review of Andy Stanley’s “Enemies of the Heart: Breaking Free from the Four Emotions that Control You”

Stanley, Andy. 2011. Enemies of the Heart. Multnomah: Colorado Springs, CO.

This is the first book I have read from the megachurch pastor and son of Charles Stanley, Andy Stanley. I came to this book with little to no bias about him. I have not even heard him preach. My only familiarity with him is through some of the resources that have come out of his church, North Point Ministries.

This book examines what Stanley considers as 4 major issues with our hearts: guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy. He also touches on lust, but considers it a proper desire that is misappropriated in sin rather than being a sinful desire in itself. Stanley summarizes the guilt problem as being one of thinking, “I owe you”. The anger problem is considered a “You owe me” issue. Greed cries out, “I owe me”. Jealousy claims, “God owes me”. Stanley offers some antidotes to each of these problems, which I will get to shortly. I would say that Stanley’s presentation is clear and accessible. I can only assume that his preaching is the same and why he is known as a great communicator. All of these issues proceed from the verse, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV). Stanley also references Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the spring of life” (ESV). In some ways, Stanley’s work is a simpler version of John Flavel’s “Keeping the Heart”, full of scriptural references.

The antidote to guilt is confession. Stanley mentions of the importance of vertical and horizontal confession. Stanley shares some personal examples of where confession was needed to really cleanse his heart and regain greater assurance and joy from guilt. I thought his application was well done, but could have perhaps delved a bit deeper into the Gospel and how Jesus can cleanse our conscience through his sacrifice and priestly mediatorial work.

The antidote to anger is forgiveness. While I agree with Stanley, it could have been grounded more in the idea of Jesus propitiating the Father’s just anger towards us. Forgiveness costs something and we need to ground our forgiveness in Christ who appeased the Father’s anger towards us. We are called to love others as Jesus as loved us, which requires that we be sacrificial and allow Jesus to take on our anger towards others. Stanley does hit on this theme, but I guess I just crave more detail. Stanley’s strength, however, is that he is able to succinctly communicate his points.

Greed is combated by generosity.  The motive for generosity needs to be grounded in God’s generosity to us. Lastly, jealousy is combatted by celebration. Stanley makes a good observation by noting that jealousy can often veil a grudge towards God as if we are owed what others have.

All in all, Stanley does a good job of combatting these common issues in the heart by a positive command that is rooted in the Gospel. It’s not a simplistic, “Stop!”, but a call to positively embrace the fruit of the Gospel in our hearts to affect transformation over these besetting symptoms of wickedness in our hearts. I think this is a helpful primer for the layperson who needs to do some introspection on these issues. This book should be supplemented by some other offerings by Paul Tripp.

Here are some excerpts that I found very helpful:

“On the other hand, you may be the kind of person who tells your story every time you get a chance. You want to be understood. You enjoy the sympathy. You’ve learned that people are willing to cut you a bit more slack once they’ve heard your tale of woe. You know that your story explains your propensity to overreact, to say things you later regret, to punish people whenever you get the opportunity, to lash out at those who fall short of your expectations. It accounts for your temper, your moodiness, and your unpredictable reactions.

But let’s be honest. From your perspective your story not only explains your behavior, it justifies it. It’s a built-in excuse for everything you or others don’t like about you. It’s your crutch. You know you don’t act and react the way you should, but rather than do anything about it you fall back on your story” (Stanley, “Enemies of the Heart”, pgs. 62-63).

Here’s another great excerpt,

“Before long my confession habit was supporting my sin habit….We weren’t confessing as a step toward changing. Confession was all about guilt relief. I knew even as I was confessing that I would be back the next day, confessing the same sins. My routine had nothing to do with change. I just wanted to feel better” (Stanley, “Enemies of the Heart”, pgs. 94-95).

And another,

“In the shadow of my hurt, forgiveness feels like a decision to reward my enemy. But in the shadow of the cross, forgiveness is merely a gift from one undeserving soul to another. Forgiveness is the gift that ensures my freedom from a prison of bitterness and resentment. When I accept forgiveness from God, I’m set free from the penalty of my sin; when I extend forgiveness to my adversary, there’s a sense in which I’m set free from his sin as well” (Stanley, “Enemies of the Heart”, pg. 129).

This book was provided by Multnomah and my review reflects my honest opinions.

© 2011, Rick Hogaboam. All rights reserved.