First sentence: If you’ve ever said, “I just want to know God’s will for my life,” this book is for you.

Premise/plot: In His Image isn't your typical what-is-God's-will-for-my-life 'self-help' book. I'm tempted to put in the exclamation: far from it! Wilkin writes:
"God is always more concerned with the decision-maker than he is with the decision itself... For the believer wanting to know God’s will for her life, the first question to pose is not “What should I do?” but “Who should I be?” The Bible plainly answers the question “Who should I be?” with “Be like Jesus Christ, who perfectly images God in human form.”"

We were created in the image of God, and we are called to reflect that image. Wilkin has selected ten characteristics of God that we are called--commanded--to reflect in our lives.

God is holy. We are called to be holy. God is love. We are called to love. God is good. We are called to be good. God is just. We are called to be just--to love justice, to hate injustice. God is merciful. We are called to show mercy. God is gracious. We are called to be gracious. God is faithful. We are called to be faithful. God is patient. We are called to be patient. God is truthful. In fact he is the way, the TRUTH, and the life. We are called to be truthful as well. We are to love truth--treasure it--and hate lies. We are to remember who is incapable of lying and who is the father of lies. God is wise. We are called to be wise. We are called to live with discernment.

The first chapter is of the utmost importance. She writes, "the Bible wants our first thought about God to be that he is holy." She warns, "If we emphasize any of his attributes above or apart from his holiness, we fashion him after our own imagining or for our own ends."

"Holiness permeates the entire Christian profession. It lies at the very center of the gospel. We are not merely saved from depravity; we are saved to holiness. Conversion entails consecration. Growing in holiness means growing in our hatred of sin. But reflecting the character of God involves more than just casting off the garment of our old ways. It entails putting on the garment of our new inheritance. Growing in holiness means growing into being loving, just, good, merciful, gracious, faithful, truthful, patient, and wise."

My thoughts: I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this one. It's a GREAT book on the character of God. It's a great book on how to live the Christian life. Or if you want to get fancy--it is a great book about sanctification.

This book may appear to be just for women--especially for women. It is a book EVERY believer would benefit from reading. This book wisely keeps the Word of God front and center.

In His Image is the companion/sequel book to Jen Wilkin’s None Like Him, one of my favorite reads last year. While None Like Him covered the attributes of God that are solely His (and applying them to ourselves results in sin), In His Image is all about His communicable characteristics: holy, loving, good, just, merciful, gracious, faithful, patient, truthful and wise. These are the traits we are to pursue after.

As expected, Ms. Wilkin did not disappoint. From the beginning, she engages both my mind and heart as she lays out why we need to study who God is. Yes, because He is God and desires us to know Him. But even more precise, He formed us in His image and the more we are like Him, the more we glorify Him. But how are we to become more like Him if we don’t know what He’s like?

Ms. Wilkin presents both the biblical/theological basis and practical applications from knowing God’s character. From the beginning, the author gives an insightful application to the pursuit of these godly characters. Theology, or the study of God, is not just a heady topic, but as explained by this book, could be and should be manifested in our everyday life.

One example is through our decision-making, something even the seasoned believers often struggle with. We have all been guilty of treating God’s will as something elusive and a mystery to be solved. Ms Wlkins has a clearer solution (which is also Dr. John MacArthur’s point in his book, Found: God’s Will),

“For the believer wanting to know God’s will for her life, the first question to pose is not ‘What should I do?’ but ‘Who should I be?’...What does it profit me to make the right choice if I’m still the wrong person?...The hope of the Gospel in our sanctification is not simply that we would make better choices, but that we would become better people....What is God’s will for your life? Put simply, that you would be like Christ.”

Each chapter covers an attribute and comes with a list of Bible verses for mediation, questions to ponder and a prayer suggestion. My favorite chapter is perhaps the one on God being truthful. It’s a great resource for both personal and group study. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher to review, but will buy copies of it to give away to my friends and family. I plan to study the book with my daughters, who enjoyed going through None Like Him with me.

*I received an advanced copy from the publisher through #netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this book. It had so many good ways of expressing the various parts of God and his love for His people. it made me rethink some of my previous thoughts and dig dipper into the word through the scriptures/questions/prayers at the end of each chapter. I'm so looking forward to going back through the book and working on those in a journal and really utilizing that resource. I'd recommend In His Image for anyone who is a fan of Jen's previous books (me!) or would just like a resource to go further into the word with the image of God.

Jen Wilkin has a way of making difficult theological concepts understandable and relatable. In His Image explains 10 attributes of God that we can live out in our lives, such as grace, mercy, thanksgiving, and love. I highly recommend this book, along with her other book, None Like Him, as a small group study or devotional. Both books include reflection questions and verses at the end of each chapter.

We are to be Christlike but what does that mean? Wilkin helps readers understand that this goes beyond the “What should I do?” to “Who should I be?” She reminds us that we can know God's will for our character and godly character will produce godly action.

I like that Wilkin distinguishes the character traits God alone can have, such as his omnipresence and omniscience. What she writes about in this book are the traits we are to exhibit. We are to bear the image of God, not become God. (Loc 139/1557) She explores that God is holy, loving, just, good, merciful, gracious, faithful, truthful, patient, and wise.

My favorite chapter was on justice and on how we are to secure justice for the oppressed. Or maybe it was the chapter on patience. I like how Wilkin related patience and anger. After all, we are to wait upon the Lord. That helped me understand why some people are so angry with God. I also liked her teaching on the abundant life as a life lived in humility.

The chapter that challenged me the most was the one on truth. “Truth is anything that conforms to reality,” she writes. (Loc 1217/1557) Acknowledging that God is truthful is affirming that God defines all objective reality, she says. I am still thinking about all of that.

Included at the end of each chapter are Scripture verses for further meditation, questions for discussion or journaling, and a prayer prompt.

I recommend this book to any Christian desiring to understand what it means to become more Christlike. You'll find good teaching and additional material to help you on your way.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

Jen Wilkin is a speaker, writer, and teacher of women's Bible studies. During her seventeen years of teaching, she has organized and led studies for women in home, church, and parachurch contexts. She and her family are members of the Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas.

Crossway, 176 pages. Note: this book releases May 31, 2018.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

Wilken's book came at such a needed time in my life, when I was questioning His will for various aspects of my life. Wilken rightly points out the way to know this is by knowing Him and pursing God's communicable attributes in our lives.

"Without meaning to, we can begin to regard our relationship with God primarily as a means toward better decision-making. We can slip into a conception of God as a Dear Abby, a benevolent advice columnist who fields our toughest questions about relationships and circumstances. Because we do not trust our judgment, we ask him who we should marry or which job we should take. We ask him where to spend our money or which neighborhood to move into."

"For the believer wanting to know God's will for her life, the first question to pose is not "What should I do?" but "Who should I be?"

I highlighted so much of this book, because there were so many gems that pointed me to Scripture.

I treated Wilken's book as a daily devotional. At the end of each chapter, she has Scripture for consideration and questions and guided prayer prompts. I've been convicted of areas of my life that need to be committed to Christ. It's given me perspective on avenues that help me answer the question she poses, "Who should I be?" I've also been able to use what I've learned to encourage a friend.

Highly recommend.

I received this book as an advanced review copy from NetGalley. The thoughts and opinions listed above are my own.

The subtitle for this book--10 Ways God Calls Us to Reflect His Character--aptly describe its content. Jen Wilkin offers an interesting and challenging look at how we are to mirror 10 of God's most revealed traits. However, I disagree with the premise given in the Introduction chapter that this book replaces traditional books about how to know God's will. The Introduction would have the reader believe that being who God wants us to be eliminates the need to carefully consider each decision we make using more traditional decision making steps. Yes, mirroring His image will definitely help us to walk like Jesus. But decisions still need to be weighed and made using more than just our character. I believe this book should delete that introductory premise. It would still be a powerful book about walking like Jesus without offering what I think is a faulty premise.

I had never heard of or read anything from Jen Wilkin before I decided to request this book, but I’m glad I went ahead with it as this has been an interesting read.

This book was surprisingly short. I managed to blaze through it in half a day and I don’t even scan read. Honestly I think my mind is still trying to catch up with everything that Wilkin has packed in. This book contains many bites of scriptural knowledge that can easily grow into a solid foundation of biblical understanding.

The pace of this book is fast, broken down into 10 easy sections, all on the different attributes of God and how we as His image bearers should be more concerned with “Who should I be?”, than “What should I do?” There’s also sections at the end of each chapter to answer questions and individual prayer prompts. I can admit that I often don’t use these, or I might if I purchase the book but when I’m reading in advance I don’t slow down enough to do devotional-type material, but from reading the questions and prompts I can see this being a useful tool for individual or group study.

I will say that I did disagree with some of her points, hence the three star instead of 4 or 5. This is mostly a case of perspective I think. Sometimes Wilkin presents things as very cut and dry, almost in a “why aren’t you doing it like this” sort of way. But we all know life is not like that, not even life lived through Christ. Sometimes decisions just aren’t a simple matter, despite obedient faithfulness. So while I do believe there are some important biblical truths folded in the pages of this book, I would caution anyone who reads it to remember that God deals with us all individually and relationally.

Overall I did enjoy this book. The style was engaging, the teaching relevant and filled with scriptural insight that will help many learn what it really means to bear the image of their Creator.

In the book "In His Image", Jen Wilkin discusses 10 attributes of God: holy, loving, good, just, merciful, gracious, faithful, patient, truthful, and wise.. The central message of this book is that we should be seeking to reflect our God, even though we will never be able to be perfect as He is. The chapter that resonated the most with me was the chapter that talked about God's love. I found it enlightening to hear about the different types of love mentioned in the Bible (philia - brother/sisterly love between peers, eros - romantic love, storge - parent's love for a child, and agape - the love of God). I also found it very interesting that agape occurs 259 times in the New Testament, while philia is used 54 times, and storge and eros do not occur at all. That chapter really taught me a lot about applying agape love into my own life in order to mirror the love of God.

Unfortunately, I did find the book to be a bit redundant at times, and there were times that it failed to keep my interest. I would recommend this book to a friend because it does have some valuable and interesting points, and the author is very knowledgeable. But overall, it was just okay for me - 3.5 stars.

I received an advance review copy of this book from Netgalley and Crossway.

Having been blessed by Jen Wilkins’ previous books I was excited to read her newest title and I was certainly not disappointed.

The book outlines 10 communicable attributes of God (eg. Gracious, Merciful, Faithful) Truth and for each one explains how God is like this and how we in turn should seek to be like this.

The book is engaging with personal stories but is rooted in scripture and although an excellent read is also incredibly challenging. For example on the chapter on Grace, she states: “ Christians should not have the reputation for being merely fair. We should have the reputation for playing favourites with everyone except ourselves…”- What a challenge!

I would recommend this to anyone who is passionate to know God’s will for their life and who wants to grow in their sanctification. It is not a hard or long read but is definitely a volume which will leave you, challenged and encouraged to grow more like Christ.