Echoes of Holy Love: On Holiness That Heals

  Holy Love and the New Creation The Telos of Sacred Space—God Dwelling Fully with Creation Introduction: The End Is the Beginning What is God's ultimate goal? Where is all of history heading? What is the final chapter of the biblical story? Ask many Christians and you'll hear: "Heaven." "Being with God when we die." "Eternal life in paradise." These aren't wrong, exactly, but they're incomplete—and the incompleteness matters profoundly. They reduce the Christian hope to individual, disembodied, spiritual existence in some ethereal realm far removed from this material world. But the Bible's vision is far grander, far more comprehensive, far more earthy than that. Scripture doesn't end with souls floating on clouds playing harps. It ends with a new heaven and a new earth , with the holy city descending from heaven , with God dwelling with humanity in renewed creation, with the declaration: "Behold, I am making all things...

The Glory of Self-Giving Love How the Cross Redefines Power, Greatness, and the Very Nature of Glory Introduction: The Glory Paradox We live in a world obsessed with glory. Athletes chase championship glory. Celebrities bask in the glory of fame. Nations pursue military glory. Corporations compete for market glory. Individuals seek the glory of recognition, influence, and success. And in every case, glory means the same thing:   dominance, visibility, triumph over others. The world's glory is zero-sum. Your glory requires my diminishment. Your exaltation demands my humiliation. Your crown needs my defeat. Glory flows upward to those who climb highest, push hardest, and crush competitors most effectively. It's glory through domination. Then comes Jesus. The eternal Son of God, through whom all things were created, before whom every knee will bow—stands in an upper room and wraps a towel around His waist. He kneels before His disciples, takes their dusty feet in His hands, and wa...