{"id":20709,"date":"2026-08-09T18:20:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T23:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=20709"},"modified":"2026-08-09T18:20:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T23:20:40","slug":"book-review-dust-to-dust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=20709","title":{"rendered":"BOOK REVIEW | Dust to Dust"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"830\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-6.52.56-PM-830x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20710\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-6.52.56-PM-830x1024.png 830w, https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-6.52.56-PM-243x300.png 243w, https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-6.52.56-PM-768x947.png 768w, https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-6.52.56-PM-1246x1536.png 1246w, https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-6.52.56-PM.png 1442w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 830px) 100vw, 830px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I love that I had to read this one sitting close to a lamp to make sure I could read all the words.  My own dimming eyesight in the midst of raising teenagers and encouraging my mom all collide in this book.  And it&#8217;s a gloriously encouraging collision!  I have so much respect for Jen Wilkin as a Bible teacher and have really enjoyed working through some of her studies with friends and students.  <em>Dust to Dust <\/em>hit me right where I am and gave me some things to ponder and some great steps forward to take!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her central claim reframes the whole conversation: aging existed before sin entered the world, so aging itself was never the penalty \u2014 decline toward death was. Apart from sin, we never would have death and all the side effects of heading toward physical end.  I really appreciated Jen&#8217;s point about aging parents and other loved ones &#8220;bodies decline, people develop.&#8221;  A solid understanding of the Imago Dei helps us to truly number our days in light of what we know to be true about God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Dust to Dust<\/em> doesn&#8217;t minimize the real losses that come with aging. But it refuses to let loss be the final word. If you&#8217;re walking through your own season of aging, or walking alongside someone who is, this is a book I&#8217;d highly recommend!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I highlighted several things while reading and have pasted those notes below&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I believe embracing and living from a Christian view of aging is one of the simplest ways believers can shine like stars in our current generation. p. 13<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Aging existed before sin entered the world, and that means aging itself is not a penalty of sin. The penalty of sin on the human body is not that it ages but that as it ages, it declines toward death. p. 20<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The world&#8217;s false story of anti-aging is motivated by fear: Don&#8217;t get old. You&#8217;ll be invisible, irrelevant, a has-been, a burden. The Bible&#8217;s true story of aging is motivated by joy: Embrace aging. You&#8217;ll grow in wisdom, depth, and value. No one is a has-been in God&#8217;s family. p. 23<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Paul nods to the true story in 2 Corinthians 4:16: &#8220;Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.&#8221; Or, as I have heard it eloquently said, &#8220;Bodies decline, people develop.&#8221; p. 25<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Their insights are deepening. They are the evidence to me that, while failing joints and heart valves and eyesight and hearing may increasingly unsteady our bodies, wisdom increasingly steadies our souls. Bodies decline, people develop. The lamp of wisdom burns brighter as the oil of life experience grows in supply. p. 37<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The imago Dei does not fade with age. It is worthy of nurture for all of life. p. 71<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Anytime we adjust our schedules for a rare opportunity, we are doing the math of numbering our days. And we are practicing a skill we will need increasingly as life progresses. p. 84<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Covetousness is the enemy of contentment, especially when committed against my very self. p. 114<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Is it possible that God, in his kindness, intends for our souls and the souls of those around us to develop as we face the very real challenges to our bodies that the gift of aging brings? p. 117<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In a culture that fetishizes youth and views aging as a journey into irrelevance and uselessness, God&#8217;s family takes the view that our elders possess an ever-developing value, one that renders their contributions essential and indispensable\u2014with increasing relevance, not irrelevance. p. 121<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Maturity means setting our minds on things above, acknowledging the deepening lines on our faces, and recalling the words of David: &#8220;The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance&#8221; (Ps. 16:6). p. 122<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Our anti-aging world would like nothing better than to achieve immortality on its own terms, no divine assistance needed. As it has always been, the brand promise of &#8220;you will not surely die&#8221; holds virtually irresistible appeal. Kurzweil&#8217;s interest in self-determined immortality is as old as Eden (Gen. 3:4). Becoming like God on our own terms is exactly what the serpent offered to Adam and Eve. p. 125<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Bible tells us it is appointed for man to die once (Heb. 9:27). Appointed. By God&#8217;s decree, we are returned to the dust from which we came: You return man to dust and say, &#8220;Return, O children of man!&#8221; (Ps. 90:3) We have a divine appointment with death. The one who appointed it did so for a purpose. For those united to Christ, that divine appointment is both an ending and a beginning. We have an appointment with the end of our sin and the beginning of our sinlessness. Sin has an expiration date. p. 126<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Knowing this with perfect clarity, our Savior laid down his life willingly. Will we do the same? When we know our days are short, will we be grateful for what we&#8217;ve been given or greedy for what we have not? p. 134<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>From the moment we are born until the moment we die, we are aging. Every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every month of every year, our lives count up to midlife and down to end of life. Breathe in. Breathe out. May your every breath declare from first to last, &#8220;Blessed be the name of the Lord.&#8221; p. 136<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I love that I had to read this one sitting close to a lamp to make sure I could read all the words. My own dimming eyesight in the midst of raising teenagers and encouraging my mom all collide in this book. And it&#8217;s a gloriously encouraging collision! I have so much respect for Jen [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,14,16,23,28,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-study","category-book-review","category-family","category-generosity","category-integrity","category-leadership"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-09-at-6.52.56-PM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20711,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20709\/revisions\/20711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}