I like this from Wendell Berry:
I take literally the statement in the Gospel of John that God loves the world. I believe that the world was created and approved by love, that it subsists, coheres, and endures by love, and that, insofar as it is redeemable, it can be redeemed only by love. I believe that divine love, incarnate and indwelling in the world, summons the world always toward wholeness, which ultimately is reconciliation and atonement with God.
(Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays)
Christian Focus will publish my new book on biblical wholeness, entitled The Wholeness Imperative: How Christ Unifies our Desires, Identity and Impact in the World (Amazon link here). This book began with a couple of sermons and lectures that became a blog series before making it to a publisher. Following the thread of wholeness from Deut 6:4-9 that continues throughout the story of redemption, we can see how our faith in Jesus Christ changes everything in the human life, our loves, our hot takes, our sense of self, and our efforts to interact in the world around us.
From the publisher:
There is a yearning within all of us to be ‘whole’ – a recognition that we live fragmented lives: striving and failing, believing but doubting, speaking one thing then doing another. We are all righteous sinners, in a battle with ourselves. Scott Redd uses certain specific texts from a cross-section of the Old and New Testament to examine this fight, discussing how we should be approaching it both theologically and practically in our day-to-day. With an engaging, humorous tone, The Wholeness Imperative presents Christ as the unifying force of our hearts and minds.
I love the cover art, btw. Great job, CFP.
Scott, this sounds really exciting, resonating with the fragmentation that we so.often feel in our lives. Please keep me posted. Sincere New Year blessings, Carol
Thanks for the comment, Carol. I will keep updates coming on this site and the one dedicated to the book. Blessings to you in the New Year!