“The Goodness of God in the Gift of Scripture” – Uche Anizor
In “The Goodness of God in the Gift of Scripture,” Uche Anizor shares 20 meditations from Psalm 119, “Scripture’s own love song to Scripture,” he writes. His goal is to encourage the reader to recognize the gifts God communicates through the Bible and to love God through loving His Word.
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“Imagine receiving a letter from a loved one who is thousands of miles away. While he is nowhere near you physically, every sentence of his letter makes him present to you,” Anizor writes. “And his presence is neither merely imaginary nor in the form of memories that the letter evokes. Instead, because the letter is an expression of himself — his heart, his humor, his concerns — you are interacting with him as you read. The letter is an extension of him.”
The book has 20 chapters highlighting two areas: 1) a gift received, from Psalm 119, and 2) that blessing is elsewhere in the Bible and attributed to God Himself. Each ends with a song or prayer to sing or say back to God, keeping the focus on the Author.
“The Missing Messiah: The Jesus We Can No Longer Ignore” — Kyle Idleman and Mark E. Moore
“In our instant world, Jesus has been ignored, forgotten and reduced,” Idleman and Moore write. “He’s a life coach dedicated to our success, a therapist for our anxiety, a political ally for our causes, or a genie for our desires.
“If Jesus walked into the room right now, would you recognize Him?”
The authors discuss this thought-provoking question in their new release, “The Missing Messiah: The Jesus We Can No Longer Ignore.”
With sections called “Movements” — Searching for the Messiah, Discovering the Messiah, Following the Messiah — and chapters that examine topics like, “Christ is not Jesus’ Last Name” and “From Fan to Follower,” there are plenty of topics that lead to getting out of the academic and cultural beliefs of who Jesus is to who He really is.
However, the academic aspect isn’t lost. There are also six appendices that include statistics and references to back up what Idleman and Moore have written, as well as notes that back it all up.
“The Missing Messiah” is about “rediscovering the Jesus the original Christians knew, not just as Christ, but as The Messiah … . If you’re looking for a book that reinforces your current understanding of Jesus, validates your lifestyle, or tells you that you’re doing just fine, this isn’t it,” they write.
“But if you’re open to the possibility that there’s a bigger, more dangerous, more majestic Messiah than the one you’ve inherited, then keep reading.”
“None Like Him & In His Image: Beholding the Character of God” – Jen Wilkin
This gift edition, with the two books combined into a hardcover in a beautiful sleeve, is not only elegant but extremely practical. According to Wilkin, “None Like Him” and “In His Image” belong together.
The combined volume takes the issue Wilkin had with treating the Bible as “primarily a book about me, written to solve the day riddles of life.” Instead, throughout the two books she shares how to think about the Bible as a book to discover who God is and keep self-discovery secondary.
“None Like Him” involves 10 lessons on the ways God differs from humanity — and why that’s a good thing. “In His Image” talks about 10 ways God calls for reflecting His character.
Though the stunning book-sleeve might lead one to believe this is primarily a devotional work — and it definitely could be used for that purpose — the depth of the concepts make it even more ideal for a group study.
Each chapter begins with a quote, contains several pages of examples and thoughts about the subject, then moves beyond. There are verses for meditation, questions for reflection and a prayer. Wilkin encourages the reader to have a journal handy to write about the verses and questions.
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