Spiritual Formation Insights from Dallas Willard
This article is the eighth in a series looking at the top insights from the life and work of Dallas Willard. In this article, we look at the seventh insight – Grace, Effort, and Earning.
- The first article was an introduction (Dallas Willard – Spiritual Formation Insights That Will Propel Your Growth).
- The second was about the four great questions of life (What did Dallas Willard Believe About Reality and the Good Life).
- The third article was about identity and death (Dallas Willard: Insight #2 – What is a human being?).
- The fourth article was about the genius of Jesus (Dallas Willard: Insight #3 – Jesus Is the Greatest Genius).
- The fifth article was about spiritual disciplines (Dallas Willard: Insight #4 – What are Spiritual Disciplines For?).
- The sixth article was about discipleship (Dallas Willard: Insight #5 – What is Discipleship?).
- The seventh article was about belief (Dallas Willard: Insight #6 – What Is Belief?).
We will continue to explore additional insights in future articles.
#7 Grace, Effort, and Earning
In the previous article (Dallas Willard: Insight #6 – What Is Belief?), we explored the connection between belief and action. Evidence of true belief is action. A saving faith must go beyond an intellectual agreement with a specific set of objective facts. It requires choosing to follow Jesus as King. It requires acting as if the way of Jesus really is the best way to live.
This leads to questions about the relationship between grace and works when it comes to salvation. How can salvation be by grace alone and faith with our works be dead? Here is how Dallas Willard puts it:
Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action.
Dallas Willard
Grace is receiving a free gift that we do not deserve. God sent his son Jesus into the world to save us. There is nothing we did to deserve this. God freely chose to send Jesus to save us. We did not earn it. There are no prerequisites before we can pledge allegiance to Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We don’t earn our salvation, we accept it. We must avoid the attitude of earning.
The effort we put in is not opposed to grace. The effort we put in is in the actions we take as followers of Jesus. The first action is choosing to follow Jesus as King. Once we have decided to follow Jesus, we must prioritize our life around the values and mission of the Kingdom of God. This requires effort. It does not just happen. But is also not something that we can do in our own power. The Holy Spirit works in us and through us to transform us. Our effort creates a posture where we cooperate with what the Spirit is doing.
What does this understanding of grace, effort, and earning mean for us today?
Now that we have seen how Dallas Willard thinks about grace, effort, and earning, let’s discuss what this means for us today. One of the areas that requires effort is spiritual disciplines. Solitude, sabbath, prayer, fasting, etc. are practices that require effort. We discussed this in article #4 (Dallas Willard: Insight #4 – What are Spiritual Disciplines For?).
There are some other more obvious areas to evaluate whether our actions align with our beliefs like family, work, and church. Are the fruit of the spirit abundant in our relationships with those we live with and those we work with? Do we prioritize regularly meeting with other Christians? Do we spend time volunteering and serving?
There are also less obvious areas we should evaluate. We have blind spots due to our context and culture that make it hard to see where we are living more like the world than the Kingdom of God. One example is materialism/consumerism, and another is individualism. It is easy for many of us to live below our means and make significant donations, but still be driven by accumulating wealth and possessions. It can also be easy to view the world through our individualist lens of what is best for me and ignore what is best for others. What less obvious areas do you need to evaluate how your actions align with your beliefs?
Conclusion
Dallas Willard helps us understand the connection between grace and effort. We don’t earn our salvation, but effort and action are required.
Let us know what you think about Dallas Willard’s perspective on grace in the comments section below. Where do you agree or disagree?
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Resources
- Divine Conspiracy (https://amzn.to/41Eo9Aw)
- Renovation of the Heart (https://amzn.to/3H1GGgN)
- Hearing God (https://amzn.to/47nptcm)
- Life Without Lack (https://amzn.to/3tCM7jc)
- The Spirit of the Disciplines (https://amzn.to/41SGzO8)
- Becoming Dallas Willard by Gary Moon (https://amzn.to/3NN9n4
- Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster (https://amzn.to/3SjkjtN)
Also take a look at our Resources page for what has influenced our thinking.
Take a look at our other Blog posts for articles engaging culture with faith and reason.
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