Dear friend,

 

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
 

- Eph. 4:29-

 

 “I figured out how to put words to it,” I told my friend Kate. We stood on the maple floors of my kitchen, savoring the custom-Christmas-drink her husband made for our party. “Our friends aren't embarrassed to be wholesome. You don't mock it; we celebrate it."

 

I stumbled upon this realization when Josh and I went out for our annual vision retreat, a day away to pray, talk, and determine our goals for the next year of ministry and family life.

“I keep thinking of the word ”whole"," Josh said, looking up from his planner. “It's connected to the word ”wholesome", which comes from the word for healing."

 

How appropriate, I thought.  How fitting that the people who aren't afraid to un-ironically celebrate what is good, true, and beautiful… have healed us. 

 

Getting to the end of 2024 feels a bit like breaking the surface of Lake Michigan after a long-held breath. I'm coming up for air, filling my lungs, gulping for what is good, desperate for life. A lot was ripped away in 2024. Some of it I don't regret. Some of the things removed from our lives over the past few years were keeping us from the healing we needed.

 

Wholesomeness, by definition, is “evidence of good health and wellbeing”, “promoting social wellbeing and moral values”. To be whole is to be healthy, healed, and well. The Greek word “teleos" can mean “complete, conformed to a standard of maturity”. 

 

To be whole is to be well.

To be wholesome is to promote wellbeing.

Do you know who promotes wellbeing? Healed people.

 

In ministry, you will inevitably spend a lot of time around unhealed people. That's kind of the whole point. Jesus is a Healer of hearts and even bodies, and He went out of His way to reach those in need. 

 

But notice: Jesus' core group was not a group of lepers. It was not a group of blind men. It was a group of disciples who, though imperfect, sometimes unbelieving, and often confused, kept Him as their first priority and died for Him in the end. 

 

Is your inner circle made up of healed people, or unhealed people? You will know them by their fruit.

“Healing” is tossed around these days like a hot potato; what does it mean? The most basic biblical definition is to be “made whole or well”. This does not always occur physically, but it is fully available spiritually when we open our hearts to the grace, power, and love of Christ. Unfortunately our culture has affected the American church more than the American church has affected culture, resulting in Christian communities who abide in unhealed behaviors rather than in the freedom and love of Jesus. This looks like:

I've spent time in each of these behaviors. When I read this list, I still hear echoes of former habits, the clank of old chains. But I'm reminded that this is not who I am anymore. And part of my freedom was realized by surrounding myself with a group of people whose hearts are healed by Jesus, and whose lives are a constant revelation of His love.  These are the people I see multiple times a week; these are the people who are shaping me: my Peter, my James, my John. They love God's word. They love God's people. They love God's church. And they love me.

 

As I've been surrounded by healed people, my own healing has only increased. My taste for what is true, good and beautiful has been further refined; my distaste for mockery, cynicism, slander and competition only magnified. I no longer feel the cringing sensation of diminishing myself. I no longer make fun of myself to beat someone to it. The Gottman Institute, a counseling organization Josh and I used in marriage counseling, warns against the underminer of lasting love: Contempt. I fear that contempt is not just an enemy in marriage. It is an enemy in the Church. You cannot love what you mock, and if your community mocks what is true, good, and beautiful, you will make yourself and your joy in the Lord smaller to accommodate their unbelief. It takes great strength to hold out wholesomeness in the face of the unwholesome. Are you tired of it, friend? There is so much better in store. 

 

Healed people – people who meet Jesus daily, and let Him change their hearts – those people are like the air in your lungs when you crash through the waves. Those people point you to truth while living it themselves. Those people promote wellbeing for the community, not just themselves. They are conformed to a standard of maturity, always growing, always changing for the better. Even in their weakness and imperfection they move toward God – not away from Him. Which means they'll take you on the journey, too.

 

Maybe the things (or people) removed from your life, the things that broke your heart, were keeping you from the healing you needed. Maybe, when you accept God's love for real, you'll find the kind of community who unironically celebrates Him with you, adores Him, adores His Word, loves His truth, and rejoices in your joy. They would never mock Who you love. They love Him too. 

As we look toward 2025, I want to provide programs that meet the desires and needs of our audience. Two things I've seen among our readers over the last year are:

If you resonate with either of these, I have two new programs launching in 2025! 

 

The first you probably know about (it's in its third year): Bible in a Year Club. This program is for those of you who want to actually finish the whole Bible in a year! You'll be reading alongside people from around the world with only six assigned readings a week. The program includes:

We are reading chronologically; in the order the events happened in history. New this year is a monthly live call with me in addition to the short weekly intro videos. 

 

 

The second group is for those who finished BYC or who aren't interested in a whole-Bible reading plan next year. This program is Verity Book Club. In this program we will read six books over 12 months (one book split in half over two months). We will rotate classic fiction selections with theological selections, challenging ourselves to read and discuss both. This program includes a monthly live call (also recorded) with me and a discussion group in Circle, where all our programs are hosted. Next year we will be reading:

Also as part of Verity Book Club, we will be reading through Justo Gonzalez' The Story of Christianity, a 2-part overview of church history. You can choose to participate in both the classics club and the church history club, or pick one. You have access to both with one Verity Book Club subscription. The clubs share a discussion group and have separate monthly calls (a different night from our classics club). The SOC reading plan requires 6 chapters of reading a month. You'll finish Book 1 by July and Book 2 by December 2025.