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Shout hallelujah
The moments of change often slip by unnoticed. There isn’t a “big healing.” There isn’t a great time of prayer and then you “hear the voice of God.” There are moments, though. They go almost unnoticed. Yet, you look back and realize, “That was it! That was the time!” There is a moment in Luke 10 where Jesus shouted with…
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The call of discipleship
There’s a war on. God is at work in our world; so are the forces of evil; and there really is no time or space for self-indulgent spiritualities that shirk the slightest personal cost, or even resist it on the grounds that all the desires and hopes one finds within one’s heart must be God-given and so must be realized……
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The failure of evangelicals in politics
This chapter from Dallas Willard’s book, Renewing the Christian Mind, stood out to me because it wasn’t written in 2016 or 2020 or 2024. It was around 2009 when Dallas wrote that article. Even 15 years ago, he had this question:
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Faith
James 2:14–18 (NIV) 14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs,…
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Defining discipleship
…as a disciple of Jesus I am with him, by choice and by grace, learning from him how to live in the kingdom of God. This is the crucial idea. That means I am learning how to live within the range of God’s effective will, with his life flowing through mine. Another important way of putting this is to say…
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What would happen? What COULD happen?
One of my favorite thoughts from Merton’s Seven Storey Mountain: People have no idea what one saint can do: for sanctity is stronger than the whole of hell. The saints are full of Christ in the plenitude of His Kingly and Divine power: and they are conscious of it, and they give themselves to Him, that He may exercise His…
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Knowledge isn’t enough
A great problem in Christian education is we stop at doctrine. We stop at knowledge. It is embarrassing to watch church leaders tout knowledge and correct doctrine… and then use it as a hammer in the lives of other people. It becomes their source of pride and the root of their action. Their action, however, is about hammering the knowledge…
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The difficulty is FOLLOWING Jesus
I am re-reading some Dallas Willard books to refresh my spirit right now and one that is a compilation of interviews and shorter articles is my current project: Renewing the Christian Mind, edited by Gary Black, Jr. There is an interview where Dallas is asked:
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The vision of hope is grounded in love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8, NRSVue) I want to turn from exhaustion to hope. That is the way of love.
Tag: Discipleship
