In His Image: Review

I recently remembered I had somewhere gotten a free audio version of Jen Wilkin’s “In His Image” on my phone. Unfortunately, somehow I didn’t have the complete book. But I was able to get it from the library. So, between listening and reading, I was able to take in all of it.

In this book, Wilkin takes us through 10 characteristics of God, looking at them as ways we can reflect on and emulate His character. God has incommunicable traits (which only He can have; for instance, omniscience). We strive to develop His communicable traits. Here they are, with some of my notes on them:

1. Holiness: this is God’s premiere attribute, and Wilkin points out that He is referred to as “holy, holy, holy” three times in succession in both Revelation and in Isaiah.
2. Love: this is agape love, not the romantic ideal usually thought of in the US. We should love, even if it costs us. Love has no expectations in return. We should love others because, in so doing, we are loving God.
3. Goodness
4. Justice: this means getting what we deserve.
5. Mercy: this refers to not getting what we deserve. Wilkin discusses 1 John 1:9 (“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”). She says it’s curious at first that forgiving our sins is “just” for God. Yet, a closer look reveals that when Jesus died for us on the cross, that did indeed make it “justice” for God to forgive our sins for Jesus’ sake: “because Christ received justice at the cross, we receive mercy.”
6. Grace: this refers to getting what we do not deserve.
7. Faithfulness: our trials prove God’s faithfulness, because our faithful suffering produces much. “Ultimately, every act of faithfulness toward others is an act of faithfulness toward God himself.”
8. Patience: God is patient, we aren’t. Wilkin has an interesting discussion on how our attention spans are growing ever shorter, largely due to technology. We often resent God’s timetable and need to learn to delay gratification — need to learn to sustain hard relationships. But we should bear in mind that “sin and suffering have an expiration date. They are not eternal. Those who wait patiently for the return of Christ do so with the assurance that all things will be made new and with the conviction that every day until that day counts toward eternity.”
9. Truthfulness: “It is not new truths we need; we need old truths recently forgotten. It is not personal truths we need, but rather shared truth preserved and passed down from one believing generation to the next, personalized to us in our current day. That shared truth is available within the pages of God’s Word to me and to all who believe.” As Christians, we should be known for speaking the truth as “a foregone conclusion. And when you are asked, proclaim Christ as the way, the truth, and the life. Invite them to what is real.”
10. Wisdom

As we seek to cultivate these traits, we will become closer to God. And Wilkin points out that God’s will is not a thing we do, but a thing we are.

I like Wilkin’s way of looking at Scripture and analyzing it. This was an excellent book and I recommend it.