The Deeply Formed Life – a book review

Did you start your year with a list of books you would like to read? I certainly did. People who know me know I value good books and how they entertain me and help me grow.

I’d like to give you a rundown on “The Deeply Formed Life” by Rich Villodas. This book was recommended to me by a trusted friend. I searched for it and liked the subtitle “Five Transformative Values to Root Us in the Way of Jesus.” Yes. Being rooted in Jesus is what I wanted.

Villodas introduces five values and practices from each of those values that God uses to transform our lives. I will share one quote from each segment that I found challenging and thought-provoking to give you a small taste of what the pages hold.

Contemplative Rhythms: “One is transformed by saying yes again and again to Christ’s self-giving, poured-out, redemptive love. We receive it, and we are to be transformed by it.”

Racial Reconciliation: “The gospel we proclaim must be big enough to engage the realities of racial fragmentation.”

Interior Examination: “Interior examination is a way of life that considers the realities of our inner worlds for the sake of our own flourishing and the call to love well.”

Sexual Wholeness: “We struggle to live with a mature, deeply human and humane, anxiety-free vision of our bodies as it relates to our spirituality.”

Missional Presence: “We all have particular parts to play in God’s redemptive plan, and these parts are often discerned through the burdens we carry for a particular people, issue, or call. Novelist and theologian Frederick Buechner said, ‘The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.’”