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Uncovering the Love of Jesus is a Lent devotional by writer and speaker Asheritah Ciuciu. From my understanding, Lent is a tradition that has generally been observed by the Catholic church. In recent years, I have seen a growing number of protestants participating in Lent and I’ve been interested in learning more about it. Uncovering the Love of Jesus helps readers understand the history of Lent as well as its purpose. In the introduction to the book, Asheritah wrote, “Despite the resurgence of interest in rituals and traditions among evangelical millenials, Lent is not new, nor does it belong to any particular denomination. Historical records reveal the church has been observing a period of fasting and preparation before Resurrection Sunday since the time of the apostles, though it wasn’t formalized as a universal practice until the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325,” (pg.10).
The daily devotionals begin with multiple Bible verses and a section titled Read the Story that includes a Scripture reference for the biblical text from which the devotional content is derived. I really enjoyed and am deeply grateful for this aspect of the book because unlike many devotionals, Uncovering the Love of Jesus actually encourages readers to open their Bibles and read them. Another aspect of Uncovering the Love of Jesus that really encouraged my heart is the book’s emphasis on God’s character which is clearly expressed in the titles for the devotions as well as their content. Some of these titles include: Jesus Drives Out Fear, Jesus Seeks the Lost, and Jesus Offers Hope.
This devotional is faithful in pointing readers to who Jesus is according to the Bible and I really enjoyed it! As part of the book’s introduction, Asheritah wrote, “I pray you will see and savor Jesus in a fresh way in the Gospels and in your life, and that your love for Him would ‘abound’ more and more in knowledge and depth of insight (Phil. 1:9), that He would become more precious to you, and that you would find yourself utterly enraptured with Him in a way that compels you to give of yourself toward others,” (pg.13).
This is a devotional that one can read through individually or together with family members. There are activities for families to do each week leading up to Easter that correspond with the daily readings. The activities follow the same outline and include prayer, Scripture reading, discussion questions, and a hymn for families to sing together. I look forward to doing these activities with my children when they are older. I enjoyed Uncovering the Love of Jesus and highly recommend it!
I received Uncovering the Love of Jesus compliments of Moody Publishers in exchange for my honest review.
