DIFFERENT BY DESIGN
God’s blueprint for men and women
By Carrie Sandom. Christian Focus. 229 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 845 507 824
As gender wars rage in society and church, this is a timely book that had me gripped from the start. Carrie Sandom writes well and honestly as she unpacks the Bible’s teaching on gender and applies it thoroughly to our lives today.
Each chapter helpfully follows a structure that builds naturally into the next, taking the reader on a journey from the first creation to the new creation. Real-life stories of people encountered through the writer’s Christian ministry helpfully illustrate each chapter.
Carrie shows clearly and concisely from the Bible how the equality and diversity, unity and order — seen at the very heart of the Godhead — form the pattern for God’s intentional design for men and women. Devastated by sin, these characteristics have been gloriously restored through Christ and now should shape the believer’s behaviour in marriage, the church and the workplace.
The readers, male or female, married or single, are led to ask themselves one question: ‘How well am I modelling God’s image and his design for me as a man or woman in the context in which he has placed me?’
I was particularly blessed as I read the final chapter where my focus was drawn again to the hope that awaits the believer in the new creation: ‘perfected, without any possibility of spoiling’.
It was especially helpful to find verses or passages printed in full. Each chapter concludes with discussion questions for groups / individuals, allowing further consideration and encouraging practical application. I warmly commend this wonderfully relevant and encouraging book, not only for personal reading, but also as a tool for group discussion.
