Never Settle - Greg Holder

Published by NavPress/Tyndale House Publishers: USA, 2020.

'Generic' Christian encouragement books are kinda hard to write. You want to encourage people, and spur them on, while being witty and hopefully, saying something insightful. But unlike secular self-help books, you want to point to Jesus as the only way that these things can truly be achieved. If you read a lot, then these books can also begin to sound a bit alike.

Never Settle is decent, appropriately (mildly) funny, with some good personal anecdotes by writer and preacher Greg Holder, yet it does, for the most part, appear quite familiar. I enjoyed reading it for what it was, but still knew the jist of where he was going.

However, the hope in reading these books is that you will find something new, or at least, something said in a new way. Either that, or something will 'jump out' at you in a fresh way. And, although much of the book was familiar, there were still moments that I appeciated. The last chapter in particular, talking about hospitality, was quite thought-provoking, while some earlier quotes and thoughts about being 'salt' rather than criticising society outright (quoted from John Stott, on page 141), were good reminders.

Holder also makes the argument that a passage in Revelation 1 - regarding lukewarmness - is often mis-interpreted, particularly in terms of what 'hot' and 'cold' represent. Using the historical context of Laodicea (the church that the phrase in question was written to), Holder points out that the city was between an area with hot springs (used to bring comfort and healing) and a snow-capped mountain where "cold, refreshing spring water always flowed." In contrast, Laodicea itself had 'lukewarm' water that "smelled and tasted funny and could actually make you a little sick when you drank it." With this in mind, Holder suggests that "in this context..."hot" and "cold" are both good. The hot springs bring healing. The cold mountain streams quench thirst. But the lukewarm, stinky water of Laodicea isn't all that helpful. In fact, it was hard to stomach." (page 6) For the rest of the book, Holder focuses in on the two contrasting 'good' options: being healing and thirst-quenching. 

It's a good take, quite refreshing really.

Overall, then, I found Never Settle to be a solid, mostly straight-forward book with a few decent insights.

Kind of what you hope for from one of these, really.

Completed 30 December 2025.

Previous Book ~ Next Book

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