Can we become more like Jesus? Really? Yes. There is a word for this that the Bible uses often–Holy. Here is a link to the sermon I preached at our church on sunday exploring the often confusing and (guilt producing) idea of becoming more holy–how does it work? what is my part? God’s part?
I hope you find it helpful!
For more, see Revolution of Character by Dallas Willard
“Jesus is Lord can mean little to someone who has to hesitate before saying Jesus is smart.”—Dallas Willard
When it comes down to it, does Jesus actually know what he is talking about…in your and my life?
I came across this challenging article and wanted to pass it along. Why spend time following Jesus if Christianity is all about someday and not today? Dallas Willard offers some helpful thoughts…
“If we are Christians simply by believing that Jesus died for our sins, then that is all it takes to have sins forgiven and go to heaven when we die. Why, then, do some people keep insisting that something more than this is desirable? Lordship, discipleship, spiritual formation, and the like?
What more could one want than to be sure of their eternal destiny and enjoy life among others who profess the same faith as they do. Of course everyone wants to be a good person. But that does not require that you actually do what Jesus himself said and did. Haven’t you heard? “Christians aren’t perfect. Just forgiven.”
Now those who honestly find themselves concerned about such matters might…” (More)
Quite a thought…but that is the goal of the Christian life (i.e., becoming more like Jesus cf. Rom.8:29). Dallas Willard offers us some sage advice, “We cannot behave ‘on the spot’ as Jesus did and taught if in the rest of our time we live as everybody else does.” But that leads us to the needed, but uncomfortable question of how am I living?
(from mojo blog) It’s high graduation season—the time when Valedictorians and VIPs rifle their mental files for Something Significant to say about new beginnings and the quest for the good life. This week on The Things That Matter Most Lael’s radio interview with Faith and Culture contributor Dallas Willard explored how we can have reliable knowledge about success. The interview began with questions about an essay in Atlantic Monthly. Journalist Joshua Wolf Shenk was allowed access to the archives of The Grant study, a long range Harvard research project that asked, What Makes us Happy? What should one do to live a successful life?
A team of doctors, sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists and psychiatrists followed 268 of the brightest and best and most well adjusted Harvard sophomores (including JFK) to document the scientific answer. But the baffling variety of outcomes of these lives shows just how elusive the scientists found the answer to be. David Brooks summarized the findings in the New York Times: “A third of the men would suffer at least one bout of mental illness. Alcoholism would be a running plague. The most mundane personalities often produced the most solid success…There is a complexity to human affairs before which science and analysis simply stand mute.”
The study offered one major scientifically quantifiable conclusion (more…)
For more on Dallas Willard’s book, click here