Written by Dallas Willard (1935-2013) and Jan Johnson, authors. This is an excerpt from their book “Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice.”
For some people, coming to faith has felt a bit like a bait-and-switch operation. At first, we hear mostly about grace. We hear we are saved by grace and that salvation is a free gift. But after a while, we are encouraged to try to be good. Yet it is exhausting to try to be good. We think, “This so-called free gift costs more than my puny self can buy. I’ll never make it.” Consider the disastrous results of trying to be good. When we seem to be successful at growth, our spirituality becomes about us, not about the power of God in our lives. When we try hard and fail, we berate ourselves and spend tremendous energy on guildt and hopelessness instead of letting ourselves be drawn into the divine life by becoming fascinated with the great example of Jesus in the Gospels. This weight of trying to be good is an unnecessary load because the way to God is the way of all encompassing inner transformation. God will work in us. We have a part in cooperating with God, but even then, we must not make it our project. We need to ask God to show us what the next small steps are and how to take them.
I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. [Philippians 1:4-6]
Pathways Press.com 