Dallas Willard
Another favorite Christian sage has passed into glory. Dallas Willard died yesterday following a short battle with cancer.
Willard had a way of explaining the Christian life in such simple yet enticing ways. I first heard Willard speak at a Renovaré conference with Richard Foster. He always spoke about his favorite topic – lives truly transformed through the power of Jesus.
Willard wrote one of my favorite books on spiritual formation, Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives. In his book, he gives one of the most cogent explanations of spiritual disciplines I have read. He even lays out two categories – disciplines of abstinence and disciplines of engagement. And we often practice them in pairs; like fasting and prayer. One compliments the other.
Every time I heard Willard speak, one word washed over me – calm. He was a calm man. He did not seem to be in a hurry. He spoke with a confidence that Jesus really is on the move and that most of all we simply need to tap into the tide that is truly rising.
Here’s two favorite quotes from Willard.
“The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as ‘Christians’ will become disciples – students, apprentices, practitioners – of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence.”
The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship
“Sometimes we get caught up in trying to glorify God by praising what He can do and we lose sight of the practical point of what He actually does do.”
Heaven is rejoicing that Dallas Willard is home. He has entered the city whose architect and builder is God. Yet we on earth will miss his sage wisdom. He was truly a man who had walked much of the Christian faith and had words to encourage all of us to join the Path. For there truly is just one Path – one way, one truth, one life (John 14:6).
Brian Boone 
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