Dallas Willard: Constant, disciplined, andclear-eyed reliance on God

If we allow them to, these two desires will pull us out of the sway of the kingdom—“the range of God’s effective will,” as we have described it—and back into the barren “righteousness” of the scribe and the Pharisee.

But as we keep these two things in their proper place, through a constant, disciplined, and clear-eyed reliance on God, we will grow rapidly in kingdom substance. We will progressively incorporate all aspects of our life into the kingdom, including, of course, the social and the financial. By now, multitudes have proven this to be so.”

Dallas Willard (1935-2013) in The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering our Hidden Life in God (San Francisco: HarperOne, 1998) 188. Click here to download freely this contemporary classic.

This week we will get wisdom from Willard for escaping the deceptiveness of reputation and wealth. We need “constant, disciplined, and clear-eyed reliance on God.”

Let’s lean into what that looks like in practical terms.

By constant, it means that the evil one will repeatedly come at us in different ways to cause us to seek the praise and approval of people or to doubt the goodness of God to care for us.

How are you tempted to live and act to please people instead of living for God?

By disciplined, it means that we need to engage practices to discipline ourselves to know the faithfulness of God so we maintain a posture of dependence and trust.

What do your bank accounts say about where you place your trust?

By clear-eyed reliance, it means that regardless of what others do, we know the path we will take and we take it because we live for the praise of God and trust in His provision.

Take a moment to ask God what He wants to teach you this week.