In His Image: 10 Ways God Calls Us to Reflect His Character

by Jen Wilkin

It’s a uniquely Christian musing, this question of God’s will. Those who have never called on the name of Jesus Christ are not the least concerned with discovering its answer. It reveals a believer’s awareness that, to be a follower of Christ, not every option is open to me: whatever the way forward, it is not wide but narrow. God has a will for my life, and based on my unsuccessful history of trying to follow the way that seems right unto man, I had better do my best to discern what that will is.

Without meaning to, we can begin to regard our relationship with God primarily as a means toward better decision-making.

If we want our lives to align with God’s will, we will need to ask a better question than “What should I do?”

God is always more concerned with the decision-maker than he is with the decision itself. Take, for example, Simon Peter. When faced with decision A (deny Christ) or decision B (acknowledge him), Peter failed famously. But it is not his poor decision-making that defines him. Rather, it is the faithfulness of God to restore him. Peter’s story serves to remind us that, no matter the quality of our choices, all is never lost.

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?”

If we focus on our actions without addressing our hearts, we may end up merely as better behaved lovers of self. Think about it. What good is it for me to choose the right job if I’m still consumed with selfishness? What good is it for me to choose the right home or spouse if I’m still eaten up with covetousness? What does it profit me to make the right choice if I’m still the wrong person? A lost person can make “good choices.” But only a person indwelt by the Holy Spirit can make a good choice for the purpose of glorifying God. The hope of the gospel in our sanctification is not simply that we would make better choices, but that we would become better people.

God created humankind and stamped us with his mark. He created us to bear his image, to be his representatives in our working and playing and worship.

What is God’s will for your life? Put simply, that you would be like Christ.

ask a further question: “How should the knowledge that God is ______ change the way I live?”

Holiness is an attribute of God that we can reflect. Take a minute to marvel at that thought. Holiness permeates the entire Christian calling. It lies at the very center of the gospel. We are not merely saved from depravity; we are saved to holiness. Conversion entails consecration.

Simply put, God’s will for your life is that you be holy. That you live a life of set-apartness. That, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you strive for utter purity of character (Heb. 12:14).

Are your prayer requests limited to specific outcomes? Do your prayers exclude a simple request to be sanctified?

We have even, at times, invited our worship of romance to invade our worship of God. Take, for example, the familiar lyric, “So I’ll let my words be few—Jesus, I am so in love with you.” Amazon offers multiple book titles, T-shirts, and inspirational art urging Christians to “fall in love with Jesus,” to “abandon yourself to the greatest romance of your life.” If Christ is the Bridegroom and the church is his bride, this language may not be wholly out of place. But the Bible portrays our relationship with Christ in terms that are less like the sweeping romance of Jack and Rose and more like the steadfast commitment of Jack and Lucille.

Jack & Lucille- married 75 years

In its noun or verb form, the word philia is used fifty-four times in the New Testament. Storge and eros do not occur at all. The word agape occurs a whopping 259 times.4

Whereas our common notion of love is that it is an emotion to be experienced, agape is an act of the will, “an intelligent, purposeful attitude of esteem and devotion; a selfless, purposeful, outgoing attitude that desires to do good to the one loved.”5 In other words, agape does not merely feel; it acts. Two hundred fifty-nine times the Bible describes a love that acts.

But because agape is not bound by need, it can be given freely and lavishly, without any fear that it might be more wisely spent elsewhere.

But agape fixes itself on those the world would regard as unworthy. It has eyes for the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind. Agape looks beyond what is typically valued as “lovable,” and determines to love the unlovable even at great personal cost. It is most purely expressed when we give it to those from whom we have nothing to gain. When we show love to those who can do nothing for us, we reflect the love of God shown to us in Christ.

According to Jesus, every call to obey hangs on the foundational command to love God and others. Any righteousness not firmly hung on love is filthiness and rags, just so many sodden garments on the floor of a flooded closet. If I refrain from murder, but do not do so out of love for God and others, I have not practiced true holiness. If I refrain from slander or covetousness, but do not do so out of love for God and others, I still sin.

If I seek to be holy without agape, I add nothing, I am nothing, I gain nothing.

Unless we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we will love ourselves and our neighbors inadequately. Right love of God is what enables right love of self and others.

When we encounter difficulty loving our neighbor, we often attempt to remedy the problem by trying harder at the task. Yet a deficit in our love of neighbor always points to a deficit in our love of God.

But it is possible for us to love the love of God too much. We do this when we emphasize the love of God at the expense of his other attributes. Sin can cause us to love a version of God that is not accurate. This is the basic definition of idolatry, a disordered love. Ironically, one of the most common forms our idolatry takes is the disordered love of the love of God.

God is the source of all good and is himself wholly good.

Jesus speaks against hoarding because doing so denies the goodness of God. Coveting implies a lack in God’s present provision and hoarding anticipates a lack in God’s good provision in the future. Neither mind-set will translate into generosity. Generosity flourishes only when we do not fear loss.

There is no room among the children of God for any goodness aimed at securing favor with God or others. Only a goodness aimed at expressing our gratitude to a good God will do. Only a goodness seeking to reflect him will suffice.

The entire psalm of twenty-two stanzas and 176 verses is devoted to extolling the beauty, blessing, and goodness of the law. Ten times he mentions his delight in it, twenty-eight times his desire to keep it. If King David rhapsodized about his love of God’s law, how much more does God himself love his law and meditate on it day and night?

It matters that we revere God, for those who forget his gloriousness will soon forget his good law.

“Discipline me, Lord, but with justice—not in Your anger, or You will reduce me to nothing” (Jer. 10:24 CSB). God’s discipline is his justice without wrath, for the purpose of training us in godliness.

Justice is getting what we deserve. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. Grace is getting what we do not deserve.

“The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made” (Ps. 145:9). God is infinitely merciful, but he exercises his mercy as he chooses, according to his sovereign will. He chooses upon whom he will have mercy (Rom. 9:15). He is obligated to show mercy to none, but we find him throughout the Bible demonstrating mercy toward sinner and saint alike.

Ultimately, every act of faithfulness toward others is an act of faithfulness toward God himself.

Because we are designed to live in community with others, a life spent in folly always affects more than just the individual who chooses it. Wisdom is desirable among humans because, in choosing the best outcomes, we look to serve the greater good, not just ourselves. Wisdom aids community. It allows us to live at peace with one another. Folly seeks to serve self alone and pulls the community into chaos. Folly is the “way that seems right to a man” (Prov. 14:12).

We love to deceive ourselves that in choosing self, we have chosen rightly. And we love to deceive others that our choosing of self is actually not selfish.

Simply put, any thought, word, or deed that compromises our ability to love God and neighbor is folly. Utter foolishness. The height of stupidity. The worldly-wise place themselves in opposition to God, operating from their own perspective of what is best, a perspective that seeks only the best for them.

Often, we pray for wisdom when, in fact, we are seeking knowledge. Tell me what to do, Lord. Tell me which commitment to accept, what words to say, where to live, and who to work for. We may even remind God that in James 1:5 he told us we would receive wisdom if we asked. But we are not asking for understanding; we are asking for information. And in doing so, we betray our unwillingness to move from immaturity to maturity as a disciple.

There is a difference between self-help and sanctification, and that difference is the motive of the heart.1 We seek to be holy as God is holy as a joyful act of gratitude. We never seek holiness as a means to earn God’s favor or to avoid his displeasure. We have his favor, and his pleasure rests upon us. The motive of sanctification is joy.

Everything we say or do will either illuminate or obscure the character of God. Sanctification is the process of joyfully growing luminous.