The way Jesus taught us to pray

Amen and amen.

Life in the Kingdom of God

Today is not a normal day. Dallas A. Willard, the most brilliant yet most humble man I've ever known, died today.

A photo of Dallas I snapped last June

You've probably heard of Dallas.  If you've spent any time around me, you've heard about him.  You've heard his words quoted.  Perhaps you know him as the author of The Divine Conspiracy, The Spirit of the Disciplines, Hearing God, or Renovation of the Heart.  Heck, if you've been around me for long, I've probably given you a copy of one of his books.

One thing's for sure: if you know anything about Dallas, you know that he didn't just live his life for God.  He lived his life with God.

And he's still living it.

Dallas has no more need of his human body.  It was the battery-pack that powered his spirit.  He liked to say that we are all "unceasing spiritual beings in God's great universe."  And though his body has ceased to function, Dallas surely lives.

Lots of people have said, "He's with Jesus now."  And that's true; he's with the Lord face-to-face now.  But Dallas has been with Jesus for a long time now.  He understood that Jesus made available to all of us the opportunity to live in the Kingdom of God--right here, right now, right on this earth.  Dallas understood like few others that "those who live in reliance upon the word and person of Jesus, and know by experience the reality of his kingdom, are always better off 'dead,' from the personal point of view.  Paul's language is, 'to die is gain' (Philippians 1:21).  And again: 'To depart and be with Christ is very much better' than to remain here (v. 23).  We remain willing, of course, to stay at our position here to serve others at God's appointment. But we live in the knowledge that, as Paul elsewhere said, 'Jesus the Anointed has abolished death and has, through the gospel, made life and immortality obvious' (2 Timothy 1:10)" (The Divine Conspiracy, p. 394).

As I was thinking today about Dallas's life and work, I was embarrassed for a moment that I blog about such little things as homemaking and cooking and decorating.  I found myself wishing that I devoted all my space at Imparting Grace to weightier matters.

But then I heard Dallas's gentle voice, reminding me that Jesus offers me the opportunity to live in the Kingdom of God.  I alone have the opportunity to bring my own little kingdom (or queendom, if you like)--the range of my effective will--under the authority of God's Kingdom. And that changes things.   

So I devote myself to writing and speaking and deeply spiritual matters--but I also make a home for my family.  I cook.  I decorate.  I do a million things that often seem to be inconsequential, but they all go together to make my life--a life lived in the Kingdom of God, consecrated to God, and for the glory of God.

I won't lend you my copy of Renovation of the Heart--but you should read it.

I seek to live my life as Jesus would live it if He were I.  Not the life of someone else, but my life.  A life deeply enriched by knowing Dallas Willard--and the God he serves.  The One who reminds me, 

"Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (Colossians 3:17).  

Spiritual Formation, Day 12

As we consider Jesus to be not only our Savior and our Lord but also our Teacher, we need to realize that Jesus knew what he was talking about.
Let that sink in for a moment. We can learn how to live from the person who knows best. He came to earth and lived down here as one of us.

I want to share with you some words of Dallas Willard's. Dallas has made this point so well that I can't possibly improve upon his words, and I think they're worthy of your consideration. So here they are. I do hope you'll read them.

Our commitment to Jesus can stand on no other foundation than a recognition that he is the one who knows the truth about our lives and our universe. It is not possible to trust Jesus, or anyone else, in matters where we do not believe him to be competent. We cannot pray for help and rely on his collaboration in dealing with real-life matters we suspect might defeat his knowledge or abilities.
And can we seriously imagine that Jesus could be Lord if he were not smart? If he were divine, would he be dumb? Or uninformed? Once you stop to think about it, how could he be what we take him to be in all other respects and not be the best-informed and most intelligent person of all, the smartest person who ever lived (emphasis mine)?
That is exactly how his earliest apprentices in kingdom living thought of him. He was not regarded as, perhaps, a magician, who only knew "the right words" to get results without understanding or who could effectively manipulate appearances. Rather, he was accepted as the ultimate scientist, craftsman, and artist.
The biblical and continuing vision of Jesus was of one who made all of created reality and kept it working, literally "holding it together" (Colossians 1:17). And today we think people are smart who can make light bulbs and computer chips and rockets out of "stuff" already provided. He made "the stuff"!
Small wonder, then, that the first Christians thought he held within himself "all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3). This confidence in his intellectual greatness is the basis of the radicalism of Christ-following in relation to the human order. It sees Jesus now living beyond death as "the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth. . .the first and the last, the living One," the one who can say "I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more, the master of death and the world of the dead" (Revelation 1:5, 18).

The Divine Conspiracy, p. 94

**Have you ever thought about Jesus as the smartest person who ever lived?**

This post is part of a 31-day series on spiritual formation. To see all posts in this series, click here. Or click here to see all the bloggers participating in the 31-day challenge!

Upside down

Today there's something I need to talk about.

image courtesy of clipclip.org

I don't think of myself as particularly naive, but I was taken aback yesterday when a thick, slick catalog from an upscale department store landed in my mailbox and included this message on the front page:

INSTANT HAPPINESS

Grab your BFF and get busy shopping for all those things you just have to have--amazing new handbags, armfuls of color, accents with attitude. . . .

Huh? Instant happiness??

I suppose this is the way a lot of us act sometimes--as if shopping for an "amazing new handbag" could bring us "instant happiness." But are we so far gone that this could be an effective advertisement?

In his masterful book The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard tells the story of a fighter pilot who was practicing high-speed maneuvers. The pilot turned the controls for what she thought was a steep ascent--and flew straight into the ground. Why? She didn't realize that she had been flying upside down.

Willard writes, "This is a parable of human existence in our times--not exactly that everyone is crashing, though there is enough of that--but most of us as individuals, and world society as a whole, live at high-speed, and often with no clue to whether we are flying upside down or right-side up."

I'm thinking that a society in which a department store can market its wares by promising "instant happiness" from shopping for purses is society in which a lot of us are indeed flying upside down. It's not the fault of the advertisers--surely this department store wouldn't make that statement if there were no one to read it and respond to it.

I'd really like to fly right-side up. I think perhaps we, the blogging community, can impact one another for good, for encouragement in right thinking--or we can drag each other down. When we read each other's blogs, we can find nuggets of truth and beauty and we can encourage one another. . . or we can be envious of one another and find an unending fuel source for our own fires of discontent.

I'll step down off my soapbox now. But I'd love to know--what do you think?

Heavenly day

A number of weeks ago, I got an email from Nester: "Swap Meet. August 8. My house. Can you come?"

Imagine how long it took me to respond to that invitation.

More recently I learned that Emily, Jen, and Kimba would be at Nester's house for the Swap Meet, too. As I was talking with a friend about the day, I said, "I'll think I've died and gone to heaven."

So this past Saturday was the day, and a couple dozen of us had the best time exploring Nester's Nest and swapping our stuff. What fun we had, trading treasures and swapping stories and becoming friends in real life just as we are online.

There I was, right in Nester's house, and did I get any photos? No. Because I didn't take my camera. Can you believe the degree of stupidity involved in that oversight? I did snap this rather pathetic pic with my iPhone just as I was leaving. Nester's beautiful front door, with a lovely foreground accent of my windshield.

Nester herself opened that door when I rang. And though this was the first time I'd ever seen her face-to-face, she called me by name and gave me a big hug.

You know, being there really was like being in heaven.

My thoughts about heaven often include grand ideas of the beauty of the place. I think about the pearly gates or the streets paved with gold or what I'll eat (never mind the calories) or how happy I'll be to see my mom again. Wonderful thoughts. But I have to stop and remember that the most important thing about heaven will be the time--plenty of time, never not-enough time--with God. And with people who love Him.

I heard Dallas Willard teach about heaven once. He summed up his remarks by saying "Anyone who plans on going to heaven had better be awfully fond of God." Good point, huh?

So the time at Nester's was heavenly. Not because her house was beautiful (although it was) or because the food was delicious (although it was). But because I was welcomed with love. And because of the time spent with people who love God.