What to say about this book? It’s the first time I’ve read Hannah Anderson, and now I want to buy everything she’s ever written. Made for More: An Invitation to Live in God’s Image is a robust, theologically acute look at what it means to be made in God’s image. I underlined quotes on almost every page! Here are 10 favorites:
While doubt can be a healthy thing, we must not trick ourselves into thinking that we are seeking God if we are simply reserving the right to decide whether or not we approve of the God we eventually discover. (26)
Being an image bearer means being God’s representative; while He is the ultimate Sovereign, He has delegated authority to us to care and steward what He has created. And we do that the same way He does—by being creative, life-giving people just as He is a creative, life-giving God. (38)
The tragic irony is that the serpent tempted the woman with something that was already true—made in God’s image, she already was like Him! She already radiated His majesty and glory; she already existed in perfection. But it was not enough. It was not enough to have His light pulsating through her; she wanted to be the light itself. (46)
Christ is not calling us to asceticism or legalistic denial of our personhood in exchange for some ethereal reward. He is not calling us to lives of duty and obligation merely so one day we will land in heaven. Instead, Christ is calling us to the abundant life that only He can offer; He is calling us to find our deeper selves—the part of ourselves that was created to be like God. He is calling us to a violent authenticity that willingly crucifies our corrupt selves in order that we might finally know our true purpose. In order that we might finally know Him. (65)
Those who rely on legalistic rules as a way to gain God’s love miss that He already loves them. And those who insist that God’s love transcend His rules miss that those very rules were given because He loves them. In this sense, legalism and sentimentality are branches of the same tree; at root, they are attempts to find identity—to love—apart from God. (82)
When God extends Himself to us, He is not so much expressing a belief in our ability to change, but in His ability to change us. He is confirming that we are not beyond redemption; we are not lost causes. If He was willing to sacrifice Himself for us, He must have a plan to make us more than we presently are. He must have a plan to bring us to glory. (93)
Because you are an image bearer, you must allow the entirety of Scripture to shape your sense of self. You must begin to see every verse as a “pink” passage because every verse speaks to who God is and therefore who you are as His daughter. You must begin to believe that theology and doctrine are not men’s issues but that they are imago dei issues because they reveal the God in whose image you are made. (105)
In our culture, most of us hold one of two views of gifting and service. Either we think we can do whatever we want, and nothing and no one, not even our families, should stop us from achieving and fulfilling our personal goals; or conversely, we think that in order to truly be servants, we must suppress all our gifting and personal ambition. But both approaches miss a deeper truth: your particular abilities are the very things that God has given you to serve others. And you best image Him and serve others—not when you repress your passions and gifts—but when you cultivate and use them to serve others through His strength. Success isn’t doing whatever you want to do; it is doing whatever God has made you to do. (115)
When Jesus stooped from glory to work for us; when He became a servant; when He girded Himself with a towel and washed His disciples’ feet; He showed us that as His image bearers, nothing is beneath our dignity if it means serving Him and each other well. (120)
As God transforms you to be more like Him, as your heart mirrors His more perfectly, you can expect two different things: (1) You should experience that ability to increasingly live as you were created to live and (2) You should also feel deeper pain when you do not. And it is this pain that confirms that you are in the process of changing. This pain helps you remember that you are no longer the person you once were. (157)