How I Learned About God’s Love for Every Facet of Our Well-being: From a Journey with Hope Walks
Published in Christianity Today, March 3, 2026
What is God’s heart? What does he value? What relative importance does he place on the different facets of our flourishing? He certainly cares for our spiritual lives, but what of our physical health, social connectedness to our communities, our mental health, our economic welfare? The answers to these questions have powerful implications for how we should love our neighbors, both locally and globally.
As a development economist and as a Christian, I find these questions particularly important. A significant part of my research studies the overall effectiveness of international development organizations like World Vision and Compassion International. But to do this, one needs to do two things: (1) carefully estimate impacts on different human outcomes; and (2) assess the relative importance of those impacted areas within a sound framework of human flourishing.
The first of these is more technical in nature, the second more philosophical. It caused me to reflect as a Christian: What constitutes a positively impacted life–Spiritual growth? Higher income? Social harmony? Better physical or mental health? And since a central mission of most Christian development organizations is to follow Christ’s example in his engagement with the poor, it led me to an objective study of how Jesus engaged human need that deepened my relationship with God. (click here for link to the online CT article)