Made for More– A Must Read!

UPDATE: Giveaway is over and the Made for More Winner is Mrs. T!! Congratulations! I’ll be emailing you for your mailing address shortly!

I’m so excited to be able to give away a copy of Made for More this morning thanks to the generosity of Moody Publishers!

I receive a lot of books to review and I’m rarely as excited about them as I am about this one. Made for More is a must read!

Caveat: I find that I am the world’s worst book reviewer ever. If I hate the book, I don’t want to discuss it. If it’s full of doctrinal error, I won’t recommend it or discuss it on the blog for fear that I’ll promote error. And if it’s really amazing, like this one, I feel as though I will do the book an injustice by trying to explain it! I can’t win! lol

I don’t want to short change Hannah Anderson by this review! It’s amazing and  you should buy it! And I’m going to be honest: I covet her writing style and precision with words! Her book is phenomenal.

Hannah Anderson answers this simple question: What does it mean to live Image Dei, in the image of God.

And when we don’t live as proper image bearers, what affect does this have on our souls, our relationships to others and on our “wholeness” as people.

Instead of trying to do this book justice, I’ll let it speak for itself. Some fav quotes:

As an image bearer, you are made to reflect and represent God on the earth. And this happens as you live at the convergence of the three aspects of identity. In order to know yourself and exist as you were meant to exist, you must live in dependent communion with Him: you must be in loving relationship with other and you must exercise creative care over creation. And when any of these elements is off-kilter, you will experience a loss of identity and feel disoriented simply because you are not existing as you were created to exist.” (pg. 40)

Most of the time we associate legalism with strict adherence to a specific set of rules, but legalism is not simply choosing the letter of the law over the spirit. Legalism is any attempt to model God’s attributes apart from a relationship with Him. Legalism is trying to be an image bearer with relying on the Image. (pg 78)

On being gracious people:

...grace is not simply God’s response to our sin; Grace is the essential nature of a God who is already intentionally inclining Himself toward you. In this sense, forgiveness is the result of a grace that already exists; it is the fruit of a tree whose roots run deep, ever reaching, ever stretching, further and further into the generous nature of God Himself. (pg. 88)

After talking about extending grace is a very broken world where people sin against you:

When you remember that imago dei identity is defined by relationships, you can begin to understand how grace–the inclining of yourself toward another person–strengthens and maintains bonds between us. And you also begin to understand why the forgiveness that flows from grace is essential to becoming the people God created us to be. (pg 89)

After talking about judgmentalism, tribalism, and other forms of self-protection in a world that is splintered with sin and brokenness:

When we do not extend grace to those around us…we are really restricting ourselves from being what we were meant to be. When we respond in anger and bitterness, it only furthers the divide  between us as image bearers… This is why people who hold grudges seem so small. They are not existing in the largeness of God’s grace; they are not existing in the fullness of Him nature. They are not existing as image bearers. (pg. 91)

The chapter on using your God-given gifts to bless those around you is worth the money for this book alone. (Know any college bound women? This is a great gift.)

I’m so excited to give away this book!

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If you are out of the US, you’ll receive the KINDLE version of this book. 🙂

Contest ends Wednesday night, 5/21, at 9 EST!