Jason and I were still a little jet-lagged but stoked to be back.
We launched into 1 Corinthians 10 in which Paul uses his strategic decision to lay down his rights and freedoms. Jesus himself had established a pattern that those who make preach the gospel should make their living from the people who receive it (See 1 Cor 10:14). Paul worked two jobs as it were because of the situation in Corinth to bring them the Good News and now it’s our turn. We bare the cost so that we can smile and say to our community and the world, “No Charge”.
But we have to do the work; we have to discipline ourselves to present God as He really is to our own minds and to others.
Lots of you asked for the quotes from Dallas Willard’s twitter feed so here they are:
Dallas Willard via Twitter
One fundamental part of discipleship is to form the insights and habits of the student’s mind so that it stays directed toward God…A disciple’s mind steadily directed toward God and a heart full of love toward God, will flood the students life with joy and obedience…God the Father must be made present to the disciple’s mind in such a way so they can see His magnificent beauty and their love drawn to Him… We encourage every question, and make clear that dealing honestly with questions that come up is the only path to a robust and healthy faith…uncertainties in the minds of disciples are the result of unclarities and failures to understand. These shut down confidence and love of God… The bane of the more liberal branches of Christian theology today is that they are unable to present a God who could actually be loved…theology on the “right” tends to be satisfied with doctrine and stops short of a consuming admiration love delight and devotion to God…the acid test for any theology is this: Is the God presented one that can be loved, heart, soul, mind and strength? …If our theology fails to set a lovable God–radiant, happy, friendly, accessible, totally competent being–before people…we’ve gone wrong.
