Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him, is a keeper. It is one of those books that is easy to read and yet so profound. It is one that I know I will treasure and go back to.
Jen is a speaker, writer and bible teacher. I have done her study in 1 Peter and heard her speak a couple of times. What I so appreciate about her is that she constantly points her audience back to God and His greatness.
And this is exactly what she achieves in this book.
All too often we seek out scriptures and bible studies that have the focus on ourselves.
For instance I have heard and for that matter read Psalm 139 to make myself feel good about my self, if you know what I mean.
To quote the author:
“We often read Psalm 139 to bolster our self-esteem. But when Psalm 139 reflects that humans are fearfully and wonderfully made, it does so to raise our eyes from our mirrors to our Creator. It’s a passage about who made us before it is a passage about what he made. It is an appeal to origin-based value.” (51–52)
“Our primary problem as Christian women is not that we lack self-worth, not that we lack a sense of significance. It’s that we lack awe. Awe helps us worry less about self-worth by turning our eyes first toward God, then toward others. It also helps establish our self-worth in the best possible way: we understand both our insignificance within creation and our significance to our Creator. (154 -155).
God’s attributes are His character traits. Jen quotes theologians who make 2 lists to describe who God is. One list contains traits that are true only of God.
God alone is infinite, incomprehensible, self-existent, self-sufficient, eternal, immutable, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, and sovereign.
God alone is infinite, incomprehensible, self-existent, self-sufficient, eternal, immutable, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, and sovereign.
The second list which includes traits like holy, loving, just, good, merciful, gracious, wise…is limitlessly true of God, but these attributes can become true of us, as we walk in obedience to Him and as we are being “conformed to the image of Christ.”
The purpose of this book, as she outlines it, is to examine how we treat the first list. “Though this list can be true only of God, we want it to be true of us. It reveals how we try to rival God.” (14).
Jen has an easy and engaging style of writing. Her examples from real life are very apt and to the point.
This book can be used as group study. It is divided into 10 chapters, each one focused on one attribute of God. Every chapter has scripture passages to meditate on, questions for reflection and a place to write down a prayer.
Over the next few weeks, I am going to attempt to blog on each attribute of God and how my knowledge of Him has grown as I see the idolatrous bent of my heart and my desire to be God. It is the whisper that Eve heard in the garden “You shall be like God.” It is a voice that I hear all the time and one that can be quelled only when I see God for who He is…
God is God and There Is None Like Him
The limitations on me are by His design and they are good for me. When I come to acknowledge this, then I have the freedom to depend on the One who is limitless in power and might.
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