Written by Dallas Willard (1935-2013), an American philosopher, speaker and writer on spiritual formation. This is an excerpt from his book “The Scandal of the Kingdom.”
Difficulty in the early stages of anything that is truly worth doing is a natural part of human life. This is true not only as we master new skills and talents, but also as we grow in areas of personality and human interaction where many things can be learned only through experience. This is the case as we learn to walk in the Spirit. Persistence is the prerequisite for a fruitful life in the kingdom of God. We are taught, and rightly so, that the grace of God brings salvation. We do not earn it and could never deserve it, and it is not something we can attain on our own. But that isn’t an indication that there’s nothing left for us to do…On the one hand, we are saved by the grace of God, but on the other hand, responding to the grace of God necessitates rigorous effort… Our persistent efforts to forgive freely, serve wholeheartedly, pray unceasingly, and humbly regard others as better than ourselves with childlike abandon will most certainly increase our faith in, confidence in, and dependence on God. We need to seriously consider how we experience this way of life and receive the grace of God for a fruitful life in his kingdom.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. [1 Corinthians 9:24]
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