ICDT 22: Make Every Effort
One of my favorite Dallas Willard quotes is this:
“The path of spiritual growth in the riches of Christ is not a passive one. Grace is not opposed to effort. It is opposed to earning. Effort is action. Earning is attitude. You have never seen people more active than those who have been set on fire by the grace of God.” (CHRISTIAN HERALD (U.K.) 14 APRIL 2001.)
That’s good stuff, isn’t it?
People often mistake an unhurried life as one of shorter to do lists and greater passivity. That is absolutely not the case. We continue to point to Jesus as our WAY of life. Jesus engaged a full and active life, but he was not hurried. Likewise, we can be outwardly active and inwardly unhurried.
This gets to the idea of “effort as action” that Willard suggests. We need not earn anything. This is the grace about which Willard speaks. The wider context of this quote is grace, but I’d like to focus for a moment on the specific idea of “effort” under grace. What does that look like?
Connect with Gem on Instagram or visit her at the Unhurried Living website.
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Alan consults and coaches leaders and their organizations in the U.S. and around the world, helping them work towards long-term productivity that lasts rather than settling for quick fixes that don’t. He is the award-winning author of five books, including An Unhurried Life, An Unhurried Leader, and A Non-Anxious Life.
Gem is the co-host of the Unhurried Living Podcast as well as the author of Hold That Thought and co-author of What Does Your Soul Love? Her work has appeared in Propel Women and Our Daily Bread.
