Quotes from Dallas Willard

The experience of missing a loved one is a small clue that we were made for eternity. Dallas would be the first to insist that the overarching point of his life was not his presence, but rather, like the intentionality of thoughts itself, the grand and beautiful realities he was pointing to. It's all there, if we have eyes to see, ears to hear, minds to think and hearts to feel. The rest is the adventure of our lives.

The heart, or will, simply is spirit in human beings. It is the human spirit, and the only thing in us that God will accept as the basis of our relationship to him. It is the spiritual plane of our natural existence, the place of truth before God, from where alone our whole lives can become eternal.

If we do seek him, he will certainly find us, and then we, ever more deeply, find him.

Discipleship is for the sake of the world, not for the sake of the church. It is carried out in those situations where people spend their life.

The life alienated from God collapses when deprived of its support from the sin-laden world. But the life in tune with God is actually nurtured by time spent alone.

Great part of our growth includes disengaging from the expectations of others.

We don't consume the merits of Christ or the services of the church. We are participants, not spectators.

Concretely, we intend to live in the kingdom of God by intending to obey the precise example and teachings of Jesus. This is the form that trust in him takes. It does not take the form of merely believing things about him, however true they may be. Indeed, no one can actually believe the truth about him without trusting him by intending to obey him.

The governing assumption today, among professing Christians, is that we can be "Christians" forever and never become disciples.

We are bringing forth the sons and daughters of God to live their unique lives in this world to his glory. We must do all we can to suit the means we employ to that end.

How does Paul describe the mind caught up in the world? Futile, full of things that do not matter, darkened, blind.

In short, nondiscipleship costs you exactly that abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring (John 10:10). The cross-shaped yoke of Christ is after all an instrument of liberation and power to those who live in it with him and learn the meekness and lowliness of heart that brings rest to the soul.