Ten Words to Live By: Delighting in and Doing What God Commands. Jen Wilkin. 2021. [March] 176 pages. [Source: Review copy]
First sentence: This is a book about the law of God in all of its life-giving beauty. In the church today there exists a great forgetfulness about the role of the law in the life of the believer. This book is an exercise in remembrance.
Jen Wilkin's newest book, Ten Words to Live By, focuses on the Ten Commandments. It might be easy to think, well, I don't need to read (more) about the Ten Commandments. I know the Ten Commandments. I know all I need to know about the Ten Commandments. And do the Ten Commandments even have any relevance for a believer's life?! (I'm supposing this last one). But Wilkin's book IS relevant and timeless.
I read Ten Words to Live By devotionally--one chapter per day. Though I don't believer this one is being marketed as a "devotional" book, I think it makes an excellent one. Each chapter ends with verses for meditation, questions for reflection, and an invitation to prayer.
Wilkin writes in a way to challenge believers to think, reflect, consider. This is obvious in the types of questions she asks readers at the end of each chapter!
From chapter one:
1. Before reading this chapter, how would you have rated your obedience to the first commandment? After reading it, how would you rate yourself? What insight accounts for the change in your diagnosis?
2. What idol are you most tempted to worship alongside God? What are you hoping to control or avoid by this dual allegiance?
3. What current sinful behavior can you trace to worshiping something alongside God? How does forgetfulness of your costly deliverance factor into the way you respond to temptation?
4. In the introduction, it was noted that laws help us live in community. How does the first word help the children of God to live in community with one another? How does doublemindedness harm Christian community?
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