Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin

I’m late to the party on Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin, and even though Carrie, Barbara, and numerous others have already reviewed it, I can’t resist sharing just a few thoughts here to document my reading of this book. Women of the Word is succinct and inspiring.  Wilkin bases her approach on five Ps:  purpose, perspective, patience, process, and prayer.  She explains each one thoroughly and gives very specific examples of how this works in real life.  The only thing I see lacking in this book is instruction on how to find the time to delve deeply into God’s word, but then again, Wilkin even provides encouragement about the different seasons of life.   I have a somewhat unique perspective on this book because of my role as Assistant Teaching Director at our local Community Bible Study class.   Much of what Wilkin teaches through this book–a Bible study stystem that, as the subtitle indicates, teaches How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Minds–is very similar to the training I’ve received through CBS.  Reading this book over the past month or so has been a nice and encouraging refresher for me, especially as I begin to think about preparing for next year’s study.  The first book we’ll be delving into next year is Philippians, so I’ve begun reading this short letter over and over.  This is something Wilkin recommends–to become immersed in the scripture itself, not dependent on others’ intrepretations of it.  If you’re looking for a book to help you go deeper into God’s Word, this is it.  Highly Recommended, and many thanks to Carrie for sending this book my way!  (Crossway, 2014)

Today is Wednesdays with Words at Ladydusk, which I participate in as often as I can.  Today I’m sharing a passage from the very end of Women of the Word because it so beautifully sums up the why of in-depth Bible study:

We become what we behold.  Do you believe that?  Whether passively or actively, we become conformed to the pattern we spend the most time studying.

Upon what is your gazed fixed?  Your bank account?  Your bathroom scale?  Your child’s next accolade?  Your dream kitchen?  The latest blockbuster TV series?  Your phone?  It is the nature of this life that we must fight daily to make room in our line of sight for that-which-transcends.  Many things hold a legitimate claim on our attention, but when our eyes are free from the two-year-old or the spreadsheet or the textbook or the dinner dishes, where do we turn them?  If we spend our time gazing only on lesser things, we will become like them, measuring our years in terms of human glory.

But here is good news:  the One whom we most need to behold has made himself known.  He has traced with a fine hand the lines and contours of his face.  He has done so in his Word.  We must search for that face, though babies continue to cry, bills continue to grow, bad news continues to arrive unannounced, though friendships wax and wane, though both ease and difficulty weaken our grip on godliness, though a thousand other faces crowd close for our affection, and a thousand other voices clamor for our attention.  By fixing our gaze on that face, we trade mere human glory for holiness:  “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [we are] transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor. 3:18).  (150)

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