I pre-ordered Jackie Hill Perry’s latest book, Holier Than Thou, as soon as I heard about it. I knew I would like it and I did. JHP, as I affectionately call her, is one of my favorite people to learn from. She is unfussy, poetic, truthful, and not once has she called me her “friend,” which I find altogether endearing and hard to find amongst female Christian authors. (No offense, I just have never met these people so I don’t know why they call me their friend when I’m just trying to read their books.)
Holier Than Thou focuses on why it’s such good news that God is holy and how it is this truth that sets Him apart from everything and everyone else in this world. It is full of Scripture and the free-flowing prose that makes JHP stand out. I think the best thing I could do in this review is to give a glimpse into the pages that are underlined and starred and dog-eared in my copy. Here are some of my favorite quotes:
“Holiness is what makes real love possible. Without it, love is purely sentimental, easily misplaced, and unconditionally conditional.” (pg.38)
“Holiness (and goodness) should never be determined by the whims, wishes, and standards of a created thing or even a whole culture. Especially when that culture’s ideas are so easily influenced by the deceitful hearts within it, as well as its overall mutability, taking different shapes in conformity to its era.” (pg.42)
“Each idol...is able to provide some semblance of life...This is most likely the reason we think our idols have been good to us. The relationship does provide some comfort. The direct deposit does give some sense of security. Just as the one who fashioned the idol from wood was able to get warmth and cook food from the wood he’d cut (Isa. 44:15), so maybe some of the faith we put in our unholy gods is because we hope, in vain, that what they’ve given us, they have more of. But this is the thing:...in all things not named God, there is brokenness. The little life, love, affirmation, provision, pleasure it has poured out has an end, and as a matter of fact, it was never the source of all this goodness in the first place. All that it gave out came from God’s hand, so anybody who has ever praised an idol for its love was actually giving their “thank you” to the wrong person. (Rom. 1:21).” (pg.97)
“The spirit of our age is to work endlessly, excel at everything, and rest never--and we bring that into our quest for holiness. Wanting human methods for maturity, a natural way to be heavenly, our motivations are sadly mistaken...Make no mistake about it, we have no power in and of ourselves to do what God has required of us. No matter how confident we are or orthodox we think, a power that is independent of us must transform us from the inside out. We must be made alive before we can be made holy.” (pg.132)
“The peace that Jesus promises to give is the peace that He Himself has. This peace is the shalom of the heart and mind that neither shivers at what is to come nor becomes unsettled with what is already here...Underneath human anxiety is the reversal of identity in which the finite attempts to be infinite. With our finite knowledge, we want to know everything so as not to be caught off guard by anything. With our finite abilities, we want to try to control everything so that we’re not controlled by anything. We fail to do both because it’s impossible to be like God in this way, making the peace of God elusive for those who need it most. But behold Jesus.” (pg.144-145)
“There is a world of passions within us, waging war against our souls by tempting the eyes of our hearts to look to (trust in) everything else as a means to quench its thirst and quiet its growl. We are a needy folk, and this is nothing to be ashamed of because needlessness belongs to God and God alone. And if God has no needs, then God is completely sufficient in and of Himself, which is to say that He has endless resources that He will never need another to restore or preserve...So then, holiness begins to characterize those who trust Christ to fill them with Himself because all their needs, in body, mind, and soul, are met in God, which sets them free from depending on anything else in heaven and earth to do the same.” (pg.160-161)
I am thankful that God is holy. If you don’t mind a marked up book, I’ll gladly let you borrow mine! Happy reading!
Meet the Author!
Makenzie graduated from Wheaton College where she majored in Christian Ministry, Urban Studies, and Photography and somehow managed to apply all of her degrees to work in the real world! She has a passion for community development after years working in urban ministry in Chicago, non-profits in Austin, and has been on staff at CRBC since 2012. She loves being able to equip and serve the church through her role as Minister of Missions at CRBC which includes both local and global partnerships. Despite being the missions minister, she is quite the homebody. She is an avid Harry Potter fan, loves Oklahoma City, and is happiest when surrounded by friends, family, and her ADORABLE weenie dog, May.