Frankly, this is a difficult passage to apply because it seems so unrealistic. I love how NT Wright handles this passage. And because he’s an incredible Bible scholar, I’m going to borrow and quote heavily from his commentary, Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians, to highlight some important ideas.

First, Paul truly believes that the small Corinthian community of Jesus-apprentices will have a future role to judge angels.

Write states, “Paul really does regard the Christian community – even the small and muddled community in Corinth – as the community of God’s people, to whom God will one day entrust the task of judging the world, including the angels.”

Daniel 7 states that “the holy ones of the most high” are set in authority over the world. All who belong to Jesus are truly God’s “holy ones” and will therefore judge the world.

Second, being “in the Messiah” or apprentices to Jesus, means we are becoming a new kind of human being, particularly one who embodies God’s justice. We are becoming like Jesus, God’s New Creation in human form who can embody the resurrection life of the age to come in our present world. Again, here’s Wright:

“If God’s true people at the moment look a very unlikely crew to be judging anyone or anything, well then, they must shape up and come into line. They must become, through moral reflection and discipline in the present time, the people they actually are ‘in the Messiah’ and in the purposes of God.”

Wright once again:

“The Christian community in any given place is called to be modelling genuine human existence; if it isn’t doing that, what’s it there for? What is it? And part of that genuine human existence is justice – God’s justice, the true justice by which the world will one day finally be put to rights.”

Third, Paul’s practical application in regard to justice is twofold. Wright states:

“[Paul] thus issues a double challenge. First, if you must go to law against another Christian, allow the company of Christian believers, the little church itself, to choose people who are competent to try cases. Since all of you are destined to be judges of the world, however unlikely that seems, you should surely be able to find someone who can do the equivalent here and now!”

“Second, though, and still more challenging for us, it would be better that Christians didn’t go to law against one another at all.”

Wright summarizes the daunting second challenge by stating:

“Paul’s challenge to the church might almost have come from Jesus himself. He, after all, told the rich young ruler to give up all his property and follow him (Mark 10.21). Paul declares that it’s better to put up with being defrauded in order to follow the Messiah, in order to show the world that there’s a different way to be human.”

Finally, Wright concludes his examination of this passage by stating:

“Those who name the name of Jesus and claim to follow him have an astonishing destiny in the future, which results in an astonishing responsibility in the present. Our life as a community, as Paul says in Philippians 2.14–16, should be like a light shining into a dark world.”

I think many Jesus-apprentices don’t spend enough time thinking about eternity. As Dallas Willard frequently said, “You are a never-ceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God’s great universe.” If we do think about our “eternal destiny in God’s great universe,” it’s generally about how the pain, suffering, and sin of this world will be gone. As boundlessly wonderful as that reality is, I think we also need to spend time imagining what daily life in the age to come will be like.

Passages like 1Corinthians 6:1-8 both rattle and inspire me. Paul seems to casually throw out an amazing idea. “Do you not know that we will judge angels?” Actually, no I didn’t, Paul! What do you mean? What will that be like? How will I do that?

But Paul assumes that our apprenticeship with Jesus is transforming us into people who will embody the wisdom, character, and skill to perform such an amazing task.

This makes me wonder what other roles and projects will be part of my “eternal destiny in God’s great universe”?

In Revelation 22:2, after the fulfillment of God’s age-old plan to restore his creation, it says, “On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”

Like Paul’s statement about judging angels, this verse rattles and inspires me. In the New Creation, why do the nations still need healing? Will God’s people be distributors of this healing? Is so, what does that look like and how do we do it?

NT Wright’s conclusion that I shared above contains some profound wisdom:

“Those who name the name of Jesus and claim to follow him have an astonishing destiny in the future, which results in an astonishing responsibility in the present.”

Now let me add a lengthy quote from Dallas Willard that I’ve been thinking about recently and dovetails nicely into this discussion:

“Those who remain undiscipled in this age will not be developed as they should be for their responsibilities in the next age. I don’t think, for example, that a person who steps into the next world as a child of God is going to have problems with rebellion against God, doing what they know to be wrong. But there is much more to our personality than that, because life is not just a matter of “not sinning.” When people have lived a life of sin, that affects everything about them—their capacity to live in a social context, or their ability to handle jobs and carry out projects—which I believe is what we will be doing in the age to come. I do think Scripture teaches personal, though not moral, development in the life to come. I think the image of God in man is creative goodness, and that we are enlisted into God’s cause. The clear teaching of Scripture is that we will reign with him forever and ever. We will serve him forever. So we need to understand that that is the capacity in which we will continue to grow. And we will never cease growing in that regard. So, suppose you have the responsibility of running a solar system? That’s going to be a demand on you, even though you’re going to be running it with God! So the rule is, if you were faithful over two cities, take five. People who have matured in their relationship with God are going to have a much better idea of how to run cities with God. Those who have not will have a lot of learning to do. So I think our preparation now makes a lot of difference. Once you get over the idea that you are going to be warehoused for all eternity when you die, lying about on shelves, listening to harp playing on Muzak, you can see how it makes a real difference.”

I don’t know what the age to come will look like. I do believe it’s the renewal of our current space/time/matter universe. But I don’t know what business, technology, medicine, politics, science, education, entertainment, law or any other aspects of human society will look like, especially when sin, selfishness, and self-autonomy, along with all of the pain, injustice and suffering they cause, are completely removed from the equation.

One thing I do know is New Creation will be filled with astounding potential to serve and reign with God in this vast and wondrous universe.

In that light, our astonishing destiny in the future shapes our astonishing responsibility in the present. Whether it’s the wisdom and skill to judge angels or the character and faith to potentially lose everything at the hands of another person, it’s clear that our apprenticeship to Jesus should be forming us into genuinely new kind of human beings — those who shine like stars in the present and are being equipped to reign with God among the stars in the future.

Here’s a great quote from the book:

“‘Eternal life’ is therefore ‘the life—the resurrection life—of the coming age.’ Unfortunately the phrase is now so widely taken in a platonic sense that one needs to paraphrase it and say something like ‘the life of the coming age.’ As in Romans 8 and elsewhere, this will be the new creation of what we would call the material world of space, time, and matter: like the present world, only with its beauty enhanced, its problems (particularly death) eliminated, and God’s presence and glory glinting from every corner.”

This book is a recurrent theme for Wright, one which I thoroughly embrace and love. God’s creation is good and he promises repeatedly through Scripture that he will renew it. That renewal comes through his people, his “royal priesthood”, as we interact and cooperate with his flourishing reign to bring healing and justice to the present world.

This theme, along with most of Wright’s theology, creates a beautiful and imaginative vision for spiritual formation.

God’s creation is comprised of two interconnected spheres — heaven and earth. Heaven is God’s domain and he has given earth to humans to steward. We are his image-bearers and royal priesthood, bringing his care and wisdom to his earth. But our pursuit of rebellious self-autonomy splits heaven and earth. As the Bible’s narrative unfolds, God promises to renew his creation, to reconnect heaven and earth. As his plan develops, the wilderness Tabernacle and then the Jerusalem Temple become the unique geographical locations where the spheres of heaven and earth meet and overlap. 

When Jesus arrives, he clearly views himself as the replacement of the Jerusalem temple. The temple was ultimately only a signpost pointing to the reality that would come in him. Heaven and earth now fully merged in a true human being. The good news he embodied, demonstrated and proclaimed, is that God’s flourishing rule is now available in and through him right here and now. Wherever Jesus went, heaven overlapped with earth.

In the Bible, the ultimate eschatological goal is for all of heaven and earth to fully merge. This is the New Creation. The New Creation was to fully launch with the resurrection of God’s faithful people at the end this present evil age. The twist is that Jesus, God’s faithful Son, was resurrected in the midst of this present evil age. New Creation launched at Jesus’ resurrection, breaking into and co-existing in the midst of this present evil age. This “already, but not yet” reality of the New Creation will continue until Jesus returns and all God’s people are resurrected. Then this present evil age will end and God’s New Creation will be established in its fullness.

Between Jesus’ resurrection and return, Jesus’ apprentices are those who unite themselves with him in loyalty and trust. And like him, we become the temple of the Holy Spirit (1Cor 6:19). We become God’s New Creation in human form (2Cor 5:17). In other words, Jesus’ apprentices are learning from him how to become the overlap of heaven and earth like he is. As we learn from him to be like him from the inside-out, our lives become the place where heaven and earth meet. Like him, heaven overlaps with earth wherever we go. 

This is why spiritual disciplines are so essential in our apprenticeship to Jesus. They interact with God’s grace. Spiritual disciplines are activities within our power that enable us to accomplish what we cannot do by direct effort. God’s grace is his acting in our life to do what we cannot do on our own.

Notice that both spiritual disciplines and God’s grace enable us to do what we cannot do by our own direct effort. They are the moments in our daily lives where heaven (God’s grace) and earth (spiritual disciplines) meet. Under Jesus’ direct tutelage, our effort overlaps with God’s energy. And in this overlap, we are being transformed and renewed into Jesus’ likeness.

We are renewed into our vocation as God’s image-bearers. We work as his royal priesthood, bringing healing and justice to God’s world. We are God’s temple, the geographical points on earth where heaven and earth meet. We are human versions of the New Creation where heaven and earth overlap. We live God’s eternal life, the resurrection life of the new age, in the here and now.

We are becoming people, like Jesus, who can naturally and easily embody, demonstrate and proclaim God’s flourishing kingdom on earth. In the mundane and ordinary moments of our lives.

Our small practices and efforts join with God’s abundant grace and energy to enable our daily lives to become the place where heaven and earth meet — “God’s presence and glory glinting from every corner.”

I prefer the above translation of Matthew 5:20. Those familiar with this verse might think it sounds strange. So here’s the more familiar NIV translation:

“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:20

The English word “righteousness” doesn’t fully communicate the Greek word, dikaiosune. I believe when we read “righteousness,” we envision virtue, uprightness, or moral integrity. And while the Greek word can be defined as righteousness, justice, and fairness, its use in the New Testament far exceeds its bare definition.

In the Jewish context, “righteousness” primarily means “faithfulness to the covenant.” God’s righteousness is his faithfulness to his covenant with Israel. His faithfulness implies that he is dealing with Israel justly and fairly. But the focus is his relationship with Israel, not his moral integrity, even though his moral integrity is a foundational part of that relationship.

The same is to be said about Israel’s righteousness. Their righteousness is their faithful response to God and his covenantal relationship with them. “Righteousness” is how one lives in proper relationship with God and as a member of God’s people. The focus is covenantal relationship and behavior more than personal moral integrity, even though personal moral integrity is part of that relationship.

Unfortunately, I think the word “righteousness” also implies legalism. This is  probably due to our misunderstanding of the Pharisees. Many Christians have been taught that the Pharisees practiced moral integrity as a way of earning salvation and heaven. 

But that is far from the truth. 

The Pharisees’ “righteousness” was their response to God’s grace and love for choosing Israel as his special people. It was their faithful response to God’s covenant with them. They were not trying to earn anything. They were trying to be obedient as a faithful and loving response to God’s faithfulness.

The problem was their response was misdirected. According to Jesus, their covenantal behavior, their attempt to be faithful to the covenant, wasn’t enough. And their misdirection prevented them from entering God’s flourishing activity, his kingdom, in their world.

I think it’s important to pause and think about this. The Pharisees were trying to respond faithfully to God’s love and grace. They were trying to respond to God with love, not legalism. Sounds like most of us, doesn’t it?

So, where did they go wrong? They tried to directly obey God’s instructions. 

The Pharisees believed that obedient behavior meant they were being faithful to God. They thought they were faithful because Scripture said “Don’t murder” and they didn’t commit murder. Scripture said “Don’t commit adultery” and they didn’t commit adultery. Scripture said, “Don’t steal” and they didn’t steal. Scripture said meditate on the Torah, pray, and tithe and they did these things.

For them, faithfulness was simply modifying behavior so they were compliant to God’s instructions. 

Jesus peels back this external compliance to reveal the brokenness and darkness lurking within all of us. Sure, I may not have murdered someone. But the same anger that causes murder still seethes inside of me so that I speak and treat others with malice and contempt. Sure, I may not have committed adultery. But the same lust behind adultery burns within me so I look on others as mere objects to flood my brain with dopamine. I may not steal. But the same covetousness that motivates theft fills me with envy and discontent at not having what I desire.

And while I may read the Bible, I do so to either gain knowledge to make me stand apart from others or to judge others’ failure to obey. I may pray, but it’s either to impress others with my eloquence or to use God to get what I want. I may tithe, but I still view the my wealth and possessions as either security or as mine to enjoy as I see fit.

When Jesus says our covenant behavior must surpass the Pharisees, he’s talking about an internal transformation. We need to become a new kind of person, so that like him, obedience to God’s instructions naturally and easily flows from one’s internal life.

Imagine Jesus’ internal life. No anger, contempt, or malice toward anyone. No lust, covetousness, or envy. No worry, anxiety, or fear. No slander, vain ambition, or hatred. His internal life was love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, compassion, and humility. His internal life was completely whole and right. This allowed him to have a pure relationship with his Father and to always seek the good of others, even those actively trying to harm him.

And he says to us, “Follow me. Be with me. Learn from me. Become like me.” And we do this not by “trying harder” or “working on it” or “doing better.” That’s where the Pharisees went wrong.

We start by surrendering to Jesus. If “trying harder” were the answer, we wouldn’t need a Savior. We apprentice ourselves to Jesus so he can save us. We trust his training will transform us. We trust he the expert on all aspects of human life and relationships. We trust his intelligence and wisdom. We trust his character, authority, and power. We trust his way of life and practices. We trust his love for his world and for us. We trust his good presence and joyful activity in every moment and every thing around us and in us. We trust that he knows each of us better than we know ourselves. We trust he can train us into becoming like him, a person who will naturally and easily obey God’s instructions and even to live wisely and rightly in areas not mentioned in the Bible. We trust that he can teach us to live constantly in God’s flourishing rule in the world. We trust he can show us how to cooperate with him so that the practices he shows us can join with the power of God’s Spirit and grace to transform us.

Our covenantal behavior must be trusting apprenticeship to Jesus for full life transformation from the inside-out.

I met Mark and Barbara almost 30 years ago. They visited the Vineyard Church at which I was on staff. It was clear from the moment we met that he was a very talented man with a lot of personality. Within a short time, he was also on staff as our church administrator. He also volunteered to run sound for our worship team on Sundays, lead a home Bible Study, be a substitute worship leader and occasionally preach on Sunday morning. By the end of our time at the Vineyard, Mark was the main worship leader.

As our friendship was starting to grow, Mark and I would butt theological heads. As a fairly young Christian, I had never been taught spiritual formation. My theology was shaped by the basic evangelical gospel of asking Jesus to forgive your sins so you could ultimately go to heaven when you die. The time between those points was spent trying to represent Jesus the best you can by loving him and adhering to his commands with occasional bursts of the Holy Spirit’s power. Therefore, my understanding of leading a church had little theological underpinnings. I was trying to pastor the best I could with the practical advice of the church-growth gurus at the time. Combining this with virtually no character formation in my personal life was leading me toward a catastrophe that would potentially hurt me, my family, and perhaps a lot of people in my church.

At the risk of sounding melodramatic, Mark was instrumental in saving my life from professional ministry. It wasn’t that professional ministry is bad. Rather, the way I was doing it was destructive for me and my family. I didn’t realize much of this until after a severe episode of burnout. Following that time, I discovered that Mark had been praying that God would intervene in my life, which he obviously did.

Following that time, Mark became instrumental in my new journey of spiritual formation. We shared books and articles with each other. He listened and encouraged. He became my most enthusiastic supporter as I tried to follow Jesus. It’s during these years that Mark and I would grow into the closest of friends.

Things took a turn for us at the Vineyard and in 2003, Mark’s family and my family left the church. We started a home church together with other friends in Mark and Barbara’s home. Our goal was to experience a community following Jesus into his character and power without the trappings of the consumerist form of the evangelical church. In some ways we succeeded. And in some ways we failed.

As we led this community, we also began exploring Eastern Orthodox Christianity. And in January 2009, Mark and Barbara, Debbie and me, and our kids were received into the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Even though our house church gave way to life in our new church family, Mark and Barbara continued to meet regularly with Debbie and me and a few other friends. Our families had shared life together for years and we envisioned we would do so the rest of our lives.

Then in October 2015, Mark and Barbara broke the news to us that they were leaving California. Debbie and I were happy for them, but crushed at no longer being geographically close to our dearest friends. We had shared and experienced so much together during the past 20 years.

In September 2016, Debbie and I watched our dearest friends drive away to start a new phase of their life. We were able to continue our friendship through annual visits, emails, and texts. Mark and I shared books, articles, and videos with each other, growing together in living as Jesus’ apprentices in God’s kingdom. And starting a few months ago, Mark, Barbara, Debbie, and I started meeting weekly via FaceTime.

In addition to supporting me in my spiritual formation. Mark also introduced me to his love of photography. He gave me my first DSLR camera. Photography soon became a spiritual discipline in my formation. It taught me to slow down and to look. I began to see things I would normally rush by to get somewhere or do something. I began to see the beauty in the mundane, the extraordinary in the ordinary. As my photographic skills matured over the years, Mark was again an enthusiastic supporter. He would post encouraging comments on my Instagram posts. In fact his last comment to me just days before being admitted to the ICU was:

“Ahhh. So good to see you shooting. These are really lovely. Like peace to my heart.”

Mark was such a talented man. He was a singer, musician, sound engineer, landscapist, photographer, video creator, and a web and graphic designer to name a few skills. And he was so enthusiastic about life. He loved life. He loved people. And most of all he loved Jesus.

Even in the midst of his own longterm suffering.

During our time at the Vineyard, Mark’s rare form of muscular dystrophy began to manifest. It became difficult for him to climb the two or three steps of the church stage. Over our thirty years of friendship, we watched him go from struggling to walk to needing a walker and power chair for mobility. The disease slowly took away many of the things he loved. As his muscles became increasingly weaker, he had to stop driving. He could no longer take photos. He had to stop cooking. And through it all, Mark kept learning to yield his life to Jesus. Jesus once said:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
Matthew 16:24

Mark showed all of us how to do this as his disease forced him again and again to let go, to die to himself, to carry his instrument of death, and to lovingly follow Jesus.

In times like these, it’s easy to put someone on a pedestal and portray them with virtually no flaws. Mark had his flaws. He made mistakes and carried regrets as long as I’ve known him. He was a passionate man. He had his anxieties and worries. But that was the beauty of Mark’s faith in Jesus. He brought every bit of who he was to Jesus. He trusted him to be the God of second, third and fourth chances. He wasn’t afraid to carry his mistakes, regrets, anxieties, fears, brokenness, and sin to Jesus. As he did so, he experienced transformation.

During the past couple of years, Mark experienced what he called a “renaissance” in his life with Jesus. He was experiencing God’s presence in fresh and powerful ways. Things that had been plaguing him most of his life were being replaced with deeper love, joy and peace.

Debbie and I visited Mark and Barbara in October 2025. Mark had been experiencing intestinal and stomach discomfort since August. The pain got worse through the holidays. A biopsy in February showed he had stage 4 colon cancer. His muscular dystrophy complicated matters since the doctors needed to figure out a course of treatment that wouldn’t worsen the impact of Mark’s MD. They settled on immunotherapy and Mark had his first treatment in early March. He seemed well after the treatment, experiencing only minor side effects.

Then he caught a severe cold that lasted over two weeks.

Mark went in for his second immunotherapy treatment on March 30. Things were fine with him after the treatment. On March 31, he texted me saying the pain level was down by about 75%. He also said that once Debbie and I returned from a trip in late April, he would love to resume our weekly FaceTime meetings together. On April 3, he shared a sermon on YouTube by one of our favorite theologians. He also commented encouragement on some photos I posted in Instagram.

Around 3:30am on April 6, I was awakened by a phone call. My oldest son called to see if I saw Barbara’s Facebook post requesting prayer for Mark. Mark was admitted to the ER due to difficulty breathing. Doctors discovered blood clots in his lungs and extremely low blood pressure. He was admitted to ICU that day. The following day, Mark consented to a ventilator to help him breathe.

The next several days became a rollercoaster ride. Doctors would provide an optimistic report based on labs. But then Mark’s condition would worsen. Up and down. They discovered blood clots in Mark’s legs. And they determined that the cold Mark hadn’t fully recovered from had created a mild bacteria that was aspirated into his lungs. The bacteria caused sepsis that Mark’s body couldn’t fight. By Friday, they determined that Mark’s kidneys were no longer working and he was in multi-system organ failure. 

Debbie and I booked tickets and flew out to be with them on Saturday.

On Sunday afternoon, Barbara, Jennifer, Zack, Marie, Jeanne, Debbie and I gathered around Mark. Mark and Barbara’s pastor, Pastor Trevor, prayed over Mark. Then the medical staff removed the ventilator and turned off the medicine pumps and monitors. The loud noises from the medical equipment were replaced by soft sobbing as Mark peacefully slipped from his broken body and into Jesus’ loving arms.

Barbara had forwarded an email Mark sent to her back in January when he knew something was wrong with his intestines. Here’s what he wrote:

“Now in regards to my wishes upon my entrance into the glorious kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I have very few wishes. That is mostly because I believe myself to be “a ceaseless spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God’s great universe” and as such, I won’t care what ever happens to my physical prescience… I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am loved by an amazing woman, by amazing children and have the best friends a man could ever ask for. My life has been blessed so far beyond anything I deserved and what waits for me now is beyond anything I can imagine, and I have a very vivid imagination.”

I am so thankful to God that he allowed me to be Mark’s friend. Mark faithfully bore the image of God and followed Jesus as his apprentice. And I and my family have been blessed over and over again by Mark’s unique Christlikeness in love, joy, generosity, and passion.

In those final moments in the ICU, it’s easy to only see the dreary, rainy day and hear the quiet sobbing at Mark’s death.

But Sunday was also Pascha! It’s the day celebrating Jesus’ cosmos-altering victory over evil and death, at which Eastern Orthodox Christians exuberantly sing:

“Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death!
And upon those in the tomb, bestowing life!”

At the news of Mark’s passing, a friend of ours wrote:

“A great light of joy and love has gone out of the world and I can only feel pain for my loss.”

So true. Our friend is gone from us. And right now, all I feel is that deep pain of loss. Everything reminds me of him. Earlier this morning, I noticed in my texting app that his avatar is moving further and further down the list of conversations. And it makes me sad. And I cry again.

But there is joy in the sadness. Mark has left us and entered into the next phase of his eternal life in God’s great universe. He has been welcomed into and embraced by the arms of his Lord, whom he has loved all of his life. And he hears the words he’s longed for, “Welcome home, Mark, my good and faithful servant.” 

And because of Jesus, Mark is more alive, more whole, more Mark, than he’s ever been. And he waits for us to join him one day as we all experience our eternal destiny in God’s great universe.

So goodbye, my dear friend… for now.

I’ve been reflecting on this verse the past few days and something occurred to me. Why didn’t Paul simply pray, “May the God of hope fill you with all hope”? Isn’t hope something we can simply ask God to give us? The more I think about this verse, the more I suspect that we’re seeing some of the pastoral wisdom Paul has gained over his years of following Jesus.

I think there are four essential aspects to Paul’s wisdom as he prays. First, virtues are developed in conjunction with each other. Hope is not an isolated virtue. Rather it’s dependent on other virtues. Paul prays for God to fill the Roman apprentices with all joy and peace so that they can have overflowing hope. One cannot have hope without joy and peace.

A second aspect is that all virtues are developed, not downloaded. Remember the movie, The Matrix? In one scene, Trinity requests a pilot program for a B-212 helicopter from her teammate Tank, who then downloads the program into her brain. Instantly, she’s able to fly the helicopter. Yeah, virtues don’t work that way. Virtues are grown and developed over time and through effort so they permeate our entire personality.

Paul knows this when he prays that the Roman apprentices are filled with all joy and peace. He’s not praying for a supernatural download. How do we know this? Because of how he discusses the process of growing joy and peace in his other epistles. For example, in 1Thessalonians Paul states:

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1Thessalonians 5:16-18

Joy is practiced continuously, along with continual prayer and thanksgiving as a foundational process of God’s will for our lives. No download. Rather the attitude and practice of joy is cultivated through continual thanksgiving and prayer.

And in Philippians, Paul outlines how peace is developed:

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:4-7

God’s all-encompassing peace is developed as we practice joy and gentleness and as we replace anxiety with continual prayer and thanksgiving. (Notice the similarity to how joy is developed in 1Thessalonians.)

Paul then says the following:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
Philippians 4:8-9

Peace, along with all the other virtues, is developed through a process of intentional focus on our thoughts and practices. So when Paul prays that God fills the Roman apprentices with all joy and peace, he has this ongoing process in mind.

A third aspect is trust or faith. Paul prays for all joy and peace as the Roman apprentices trust in God. This trust is loyal interaction and cooperation with God in their daily lives as they practice everything discussed above. We are learning from Jesus how to be like him. We are being filled with joy and peace as he teaches us and we cooperate with and obey his wisdom.

The final aspect is crucial. Hope overflows by the power of the Holy Spirit. The interactive and cooperative trust the Roman apprentices have as they engage in growing in Jesus’ virtues is ignited by the power of God’s Spirit. Our effort alone does not result in virtues. That’s because we are incapable of self-transformation. Our efforts require the power of God’s Spirit to transform our entire person. And God’s transformative power is experienced over time through our daily efforts and trust in him.

Have you ever seen those videos of science demonstrations on social media? The demonstrator has different liquids in small separate vials. By themselves, they are inert. But when the demonstrator combines them in a beaker, they transform, sometimes explosively, into something that far exceeds the beaker. That’s what these four aspects of Paul’s pastoral wisdom are like. He combines them as he prays for the Roman apprentices, probably like he’s prayed for others throughout his ministry. And as God answers his prayer and the aspects converge and mix in the apprentices’ lives, transformation into Jesus’ character and power occurs in ways that far exceeds the beaker of their human lives.

Then, almost instantly, the tone abruptly changed with this short passage:

For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.
Philippians 3:18-19

Paul starts weeping.

His mind turns from those who are following Jesus to those that aren’t. And his heart breaks.

He describes these people as “enemies of the cross of Christ.” I’m not sure if these were people outside the Philippian church or perhaps some who were part of the community. I’m wondering if Paul had a close relationship with them, since thinking about them suddenly evokes such intense sadness.

When I think of Paul’s description — “enemies of the cross of Christ” — I imagine people filled with malicious intent and violently opposed to the Christian community. But that’s not how Paul describes them. He mentions four aspects about their lives — their destiny, their god, their glory, and their minds.

The first aspect is their destiny, or their “telos”. Destruction is their ultimate consequence. Whoa! This assessment is severe. No wonder Paul is weeping as he thinks about these people. But what brings them to such a terrible end?

Their stomach, or their bodily appetites, is their god. They have surrendered control of their life to whatever cravings, feelings, and sensations flow from their bodies. And these appetites have sway over their decisions, thoughts, and behaviors. This is the foundation of our modern culture. And it’s prevalent both inside and outside the Church. Get what I want when I want it. Instant and constant gratification. It could be food, sex, possessions, comfort, distraction, entertainment, anger, motivation, or security. And most of this is easily accessible through the smartphones in our pockets.

Answering to bodily appetites then distorts what they glory in or boast about. They become proud of what is actually shameful. They boast in their “do whatever it takes” approach to being happy, promoting their entitlement to success, reputation, luxury, beauty, health, wealth, career, relationships, ambition, and indulgence. Bottom-line, they boast in self. They call the shots. They make things happen. They’re in control.

And that’s because their minds are thinking only about earthly things. This is the consequence of letting our bodily appetites run our lives. We believe we’re entitled to gratification, comfort and satisfaction. But, this actually feeds our neuroses — anxiety, worry, anger, sadness, regret, compulsion, obsession, addiction, manipulation, coercion, contempt, despair, envy, shame, and desperation. 

Paul’s description of thinking about earthly things sounds very similar to when Jesus called Peter “The Satan” because he was thinking the thoughts of men rather than of God (Matthew 16:23). It’s frightening that simply thinking about earthly things, human things, will set us on a trajectory that aligns us with “The Satan” and toward a destiny of destruction and ruin.

That’s one of the reasons why Jesus invites would-be apprentices into a life that no longer worries about “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or ”What shall we wear?” That’s what “normal” people focus on and pursue.(Matthew 6:31-32). Yielding to bodily appetites and thinking about earthly things is crushing and destructive.

No wonder Paul is weeping for these people. They aren’t wicked or evil. They are just normal people, carried along by the current of their culture. They actually would be seen as “good and decent” people — raising families, making a living, paying their bills, and trying their best to get through life. They are the barista that makes our coffee. They are the co-worker in the office next to ours. They are the shopper in the checkout line in front of us. They are our friend watching the game alongside us. They are our reflection in the mirror in front of us. 

Jesus’ answer to this is both profoundly simple and provocatively life-altering. 

Follow me. Become my apprentice. Live a life completely upside-down to how everyone else lives for God’s glory and the good of others.

God already knows what you need. You can set aside any worry and learn to pursue God’s flourishing activity and way of life (Matthew 6:32-33).

And as we become his apprentices and pursue him with an exhilarating obsession and practical pattern of living like Paul (Philippians 3:7-17), our trajectory is changed from destruction and ruin to thriving transformation as we learn to follow God’s Spirit rather than bodily appetites (Galatians 5:16-25) and have our minds renewed so we focus on things above and not on earthly things (Romans 12:2; Colossians 3:1-2).

This phenomenon can easily occur in our apprenticeship with Jesus. We start practicing spiritual disciplines with some “success”. Interacting with God’s grace, we replace negative behaviors with positive alternatives. Over some time, we begin noticing improvements in our thoughts, feelings, decisions, and behaviors. This positive movement can then bring confidence and sometimes an overestimation of our progress into Christ’s likeness.

Then the trigger occurs. Something happens and the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors we thought had been transformed come rushing out from the deep recesses of your life.

This happened to me last week. Debbie and I went out for dinner at a restaurant with limited parking. We drove up to an empty parking stall near the restaurant’s doors. Debbie has been experiencing severe hip pain and can only walk short distances, so this empty stall was extremely convenient. As I started to turn into it, I realized the car in the next stall had backed in at an angle. Its front end was hanging about a foot or more into the empty stall, rendering it too small for my car to fit. Annoyed, I let Debbie out near the restaurant’s doors and exited the parking lot to park on the street a couple hundred yards away. No problem. I’ve had to park on the street countless of times at this restaurant.

As I was walking to the restaurant to join Debbie, a young man carrying bags of food strolled out the doors and passed me. I turned to look and sure enough, he was headed to the offending car. In a flash, my head swam with thoughts of how this arrogant fool was too lazy to take 20 seconds to straighten his car and had just inconvenienced Debbie and me. And those thoughts were accompanied by a surge of rage. Not annoyance, but seeing-red rage. I clenched my fists to confront him, ready to knock his food to ground and tell him what an <expletive> he was. Yes, those were my thoughts and feelings in that moment.

Then I stopped. Where was this coming from? I hadn’t experienced anger, especially at this intensity, in years, even in situations far worse than this. If you had asked me five minutes before to rate my apprenticeship with Jesus as either below average or above average, I would have told you confidently that it was far above average. And here I was standing in a parking lot of a restaurant seething with fury, ready to inappropriately confront someone over a stupid parking spot.

Fortunately, self-control immediately reasserted itself. The thoughts and emotions evaporated almost instantly. And I joined Debbie for a wonderful dinner. But in the back of my head, I couldn’t shake the importance of that moment. It was a reminder that no matter how far I have come in my apprenticeship with Jesus into his likeness, I still have much, much further to go.

I think part of the issue is that transformation is not always a one-and-done experience. Over the past few years, I have genuinely seen my anger disappear. This is certainly a sign of God’s grace transforming a part of my life. Yet, I still deal with what I call “cluster emotions.” In this case, these would include impatience, annoyance, and frustration. These too are being transformed as I experience far more love, joy, peace and patience than ever before. But I’m still quite a ways from being fully free of these emotions.

As Dallas Willard often says, anger occurs when our will is being thwarted. My experience in the parking lot reminded me of my deeper issue — my desire to have my way still runs rampant in my life. And while Jesus and I have been training together in learning to not get what I want, that desire still resides deep in my body. A little stress. A slight inconvenience. A small unguarded moment. Suddenly my “wanter” wants its way. And when it doesn’t get it, the still-untransformed parts flare.

The good news is that God’s grace has been transforming me. Self-control and peace reassert themselves much quicker. The almost extinct moments of anger disappear almost immediately. And the emotional residue, which in years prior would linger for hours, is almost non-existent.

My dream, and I believe it’s God’s dream for me as well, is to eventually have my will transformed by God’s love so that I truly value others above myself and pursue their best interest above my own. My “wanter” will then only want what is good for the other person. And that transformation will also spread to my thoughts, feelings, and actions.

But I’m not there… yet.

Anger is only an example. There’s also pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, and sloth to name only the classical sins. Jesus and I have been working on those as well. But that moment of rage over an insignificant parking spot is a stark reminder that these other areas are only partially transformed as well. 

And frankly, as an apprentice to Jesus, “below average” and “above average” are irrelevant. I’m learning from Jesus how to be like him. So he should be the only true point of reference, not others. Or as the writer of Hebrews puts it:

“We must look ahead, to Jesus. He is the one who carved out the path for faith, and he’s the one who brought it to completion. He knew that there was joy spread out and waiting for him. That’s why he endured the cross, making light of its shame, and has now taken his seat at the right hand of God’s throne.”
Hebrews 12:2

Perhaps that’s the remedy for self-delusion. When Jesus is our only reference point, we’re better aware of both what has been transformed and what still needs his grace. And that sober awareness keeps us constantly grounded. 

The writer of Hebrews precedes the previous verse with the following encouragement:

“What we must do is this: we must put aside each heavy weight, and the sin which gets in the way so easily. We must run the race that lies in front of us, and we must run it patiently.”
Hebrews 12:1

Like an athlete, we shed our sin and anything that weighs us down and we run the race of loyal apprenticeship to Jesus with patience. And over time, with our eyes only on him, we will become more like him. Yet, no matter how far we’ve come, we keep running the race. Because we have much further to go.

I’m a convert to the Eastern Orthodox Church. We have a word for this process — theosis. This is the transformative process of becoming like God. A popular quote by St Athanasius is “God became man so that man might become God.” He has called us to become by grace what God is by nature.

I mention being an Eastern Orthodox Christian because the primary influences in my understanding and practice of Christian spiritual formation come from Protestant sources. (Anyone who has endured a few of my blog posts knows I’m heavily influenced by Dallas Willard.) As much as I love Willard’s insights, I don’t think there’s a “right” technique or formula to practicing spiritual formation. God has been masterfully forming people into Jesus’ likeness from the beginning.

So while the wisdom of people like Willard has proven invaluable to me, there is no correct method to practicing spiritual formation. I believe there are, however, some general principles to keep in mind.

First, spiritual formation requires being Jesus’ apprentice. Jesus is the Master of life in God’s kingdom — God’s reign for the flourishing of his creation. And he is alive and present in every moment of your life to train you into his likeness. He will personally train you into submitting to God’s will. He will personally train you into cooperating with God’s transforming grace. He will personally train you into the full embodiment and practice of God’s love. Jesus is the Master and everything in your life is done in interactive relationship with him.

Second, being Jesus’ apprentice requires your effort. God does the transforming. But it requires your cooperation. This usually takes the form of spiritual disciplines easily practiced during the regular routines of your daily life. Nothing heroic is required since the disciplines themselves don’t transform. Simply practicing spiritual disciplines in and of themselves won’t transform you. They are to bring aspects of who you are and your real life into dynamic interaction with God’s grace.

Third, the goal of being Jesus’ apprentice is becoming like him from the inside-out. It’s not about simply changing your behavior so you act lovingly, joyfully, peacefully, or patiently. That’s just acting. Rather, it’s becoming increasingly permeated with divine love in every aspect of who you are, including your body. So like God, you are love, joy, peace, and patience. Then your behavior will naturally flow out of this reality within you.

As I write this, the global Christian Church is entering Lent. (Okay, I know us Eastern Orthodox are starting Lent a week later than everyone else.) These forty days before Easter is a time of repentance where we practice three classic spiritual disciplines based off of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount — fasting, prayer, and giving. Different Christian traditions will practice these disciplines differently. For example, some will fast from meat, while others dairy, oil, and meat, while others will “give up something.” One way is not more or less spiritual than the others. Frankly, someone can fast from food all forty days and remain unspiritual and unchanged while someone else could minimally refrain from something and experience incredible formation into Christ’s likeness.

Remember, the key is to follow Jesus as his apprentice. Listen to him. Let him show you how to fast and how to apply that fasting to specific areas of your life. 

Here’s an example. Maybe Jesus wants to use Lent to address the lack of contentment in your life. As such, he’s asking you to refrain from online shopping during Lent. But don’t just avoid Amazon, EBay, Etsy or other online platforms. When you feel the urge to visit those sites, go for a casual walk or drive and talk to God about what is causing that urge. Supplement this with memorizing and reciting a passage like Philippians 4:11-13 or 1Timothy 6:6-11. Also, intentionally make time to serve others as you fast during Lent. Take up something creative like drawing or writing. The key is to use the fast and any supplemental practices to interact with Jesus as his apprentice, letting him teach you about how to bring this aspect into the flourishing reign of God.

Here’s another example. Maybe Jesus wants to use Lent to address how you treat people. John Ortberg’s podcast, Become New, has started a Lenten series to help people “give up condemnation for Lent.” Commit yourself to listen to his short daily podcast in the morning and prayerfully practice some of the applications throughout the day. Do this in constant conversation with Jesus. Supplement this with memorizing and reciting a passage like Philippians 2:3-4 or Ephesians 4:1-3. Make a commitment to learn people’s names or to praise something about each person you interact with. Again, use the fast and supplemental practices to interact with Jesus as his apprentice.

These are only examples. Jesus is the Master Practitioner of life in God’s kingdom. Ask him how you should fast, pray, and give this Lent. Let him show you how to experiment with these disciplines. And let him show you how he may want you to creatively use other supplemental disciplines. Most importantly, constantly interact with him through Lent. Ask him to address aspects of your thoughts, feelings, decision-making, habits, and relationships in light of these disciplines. Use each morning to commit the day to following and interacting with Jesus and use each evening to reflect on what you learned that day. I think you’ll be amazed at what he shows you.

Dallas Willard had a great expression for this collaboration — the with-God life. God has created humans for an intimate and cooperative friendship with himself — starting now and going on forever into eternity.

It’s all of life with God. Driving to work with God. Going shopping with God. Meeting clients with God. Changing diapers with God. Scrolling through social media with God. Going to the gym with God. Grabbing drinks with friends with God. Paying bills with God. Loving family, neighbors, and even enemies with God. Engaging in any and every aspect of daily life with God.

The foundation of the with-God life starts with the basic building blocks where your effort meets God’s presence and power. These building blocks are spiritual disciplines and God’s grace. Here are Willard’s definitions:

“A discipline is an activity within my power that eventually enables me to accomplish what I cannot do by direct effort.”

“God’s grace is God’s acting in my life to enable me to do what I cannot do on my own.”

Notice where these two definitions intersect — enabling me to do what I cannot do. The with-God life is built at this intersection. 

Spiritual disciplines are small, relaxed, and easy practices in the midst of our daily life that interact with God’s grace. They should be planned and practiced intelligently and experimentally with Jesus. He is the master of the with-God life. He is capable of training us in the use of spiritual disciplines so we are living and interacting with God.

During my 20+ years as Jesus’ apprentice, I’ve learned firsthand a thing or two about spiritual disciplines that I could only learn by walking with Jesus.

1. They should be easily implemented in your daily, weekly, and monthly schedule. They are not to be additional things to cram into an already busy schedule.

2. Don’t exert heroic effort. It’s easy to fall into the incorrect mindset of “more is better”. Spiritual disciplines do not control your transformation. So doing more disciplines or practicing more rigorous ones will not accelerate transformation. Usually the opposite happens.

3. Spiritual disciplines are not metrics of spiritual health or maturity. The goal of apprenticeship to Jesus is not mastering spiritual disciplines, but being formed into his character and power — divine love. Let me put it this way. When I watch the Super Bowl, I don’t care how much weight a player can bench press or how much protein is in his diet. I want to see him play football well. Likewise, no one should care how good you are at fasting, Scripture memorization, or church attendance. The only metric is becoming love like God is love.

4. Practicing the spiritual disciplines with God will reveal further areas that need addressing. Failing at spiritual disciplines, and especially succeeding at them, has revealed levels of pride that I would not have seen otherwise.

5. Spiritual disciplines are like remedies or medicine that can help with a special difficulty. They can be used to target aspects of our person — thoughts, feelings, body, will, and relationships — to address specific issues like addiction, pride, greed, anger, and anxiety and to replace them with a posture of love, joy, and peace.

6. Any activity can be used as a spiritual discipline. There is not an exhaustive list of spiritual disciplines. There are classical ones that are important to one’s apprenticeship with Jesus. But simple tasks like driving to work, taking a walk, fixing your bed, and washing dishes can be used as a spiritual discipline when you interact with God’s grace.

Spiritual disciplines are building blocks for Jesus’ apprentices to live all of life with God so we can learn from him how to be like him. This is a lifetime of growth and maturity. This runs contrary to our preferences. We want life with God to be like The Matrix. In The Matrix, Neo learns martial arts simply by having the information downloaded to his brain. Within moments, and without years of training with a master, he possesses advanced skills. 

But that’s not life. God doesn’t download. Instead, we live our life with him. We submit to him. We learn from him. We practice with him. We fail with him. And we keep training with him. It’s more like the movie, The Karate Kid. Like Daniel, we spend time learning to “wax on and wax off” so we eventually habituate and embody the basic techniques in our body. And then we keep learning with our Master, both in his dojo and in real life. 

Like the Desert Father said in response to the question, “What do you do in the monastery all day?” “We fall and get up. We fall and get up. We fall and get up.” That’s a pretty good summary of the with-God life. Over a lifetime, we live and walk with God through all of live — success and failure, health and illness, gain and loss, laughter and tears, joy and sadness. And be assured, the with-God life carries scars.

If that’s the case, what’s the point of this life? My first response to that is what’s the alternative? We’re all going to live our lives no matter what. We’re all going to experience the joys and sorrows life brings. The alternative to the with-God life is the without-God life. And that’s a life centered on self — self-preservation, self-promotion, self-interest, self-gratification.

My second response is the reward of a with-God life is… well, God. I get to live my life with God in his kingdom. I get to live my life with the greatest, most glorious person that’s ever existed, immersed in his unquenchable flourishing activity for creation. And by doing so, I get to train with and be transformed by God into his likeness, into someone who embodies his character and power. I get to become divine love like God is love. And I get to live with God eternally into his future as part of a magnificent community of loving persons, who will eternally co-reign with him in his universe.

Simply put, life was designed to be a with-God life.

“You must arrange your days so that you are experiencing deep contentment, joy, and confidence in your every day life with God.”

For me, this quote acts as a barometer of my spiritual health. Virtually every sinful and destructive thought, feeling, decision, action and habit can be traced back to an impoverished and dissatisfied life, one that lacks deep contentment, joy, and confidence in God.

So I know that when I’m experiencing fear, anxiety, anger, lust, pride, selfishness, greed, or any other sinful inclination, my contentment, joy and confidence in God is waning.

But simply saying “in God” may be too general. One key characteristic of God in which we must be content, joyful, and confident is his competence. We must truly believe he knows what he’s doing and is fully capable of implementing his good will.

I listened to a great podcast by John Ortberg this morning. He brings up John 3:16-17 and discusses God’s competence. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
John 3:16-17

First, God is fully competent at creating his world. This is his creation, his world. It is the optimal creation to bring about what he intends — a community of love consisting of eternal beings who are trained to be like him so as to co-reign with him in his universe. His creation springs forth and is sustained as an act of his eternal goodness. And while corrupted by humanity’s rebellion, it is still God’s optimal creation. Ultimately, God will renew and restore his world. Yet, even now he fills everything and every moment with his good and capable presence. We live in his good world, his safe world.

Second, God is fully competent at loving his world. He is capable to promote the good of every living thing throughout history. This includes everyone you know and love. And then beyond to everyone around you. And then further to everyone who lives and populates this world. He capably loves everyone and is at work in everyone’s lives without fail. No one slips through his capable care. Nor is anyone too rebellious or willful to be disqualified from his capable care.

Third, God is fully competent at saving his world. God loves his world so capably that his ultimate expression of competent love is to give his son, Jesus. Jesus is the most intelligent master of life that has ever walked God’s creation. In him are found all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In him rests all authority in heaven and earth. And anyone who places their confidence and loyalty in him will never perish. Absolutely guaranteed! If anyone is competent in saving God’s world, it’s Jesus. And he does this by training and empowering anyone who desires into his full life — his character, his faith, and his power — to easily live in God’s kingdom, here and now. It is God’s optimal plan.

When we’re not content or confident in God’s competence, we start questioning his wisdom and ability. We wonder if he’s truly good and loving. And if he is, we wonder if he’s aware enough or powerful enough to bring it about for us, our loved ones, or our world. Bottom-line, lack of contentment, joy, and confidence in God’s competence leads us to replicate the original sin — grasping for self-autonomy. If we don’t fully trust God and his eternal competence, then we start relying on ourselves to define our purpose and place in this world, to determine what is right, wrong, good, and fair, and to seize control and acquire what we think will make us happy, safe, and secure.

God is competent. Paul says he is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. Sure, there are areas in his world that God currently permits to be other than what he wills. Yes, there is pain, disparity, and corruption. Yet, even all of that is within his competent wisdom and power to redeem and bring about what he ultimately intends for ours and creation’s good. God is neither worried nor distraught. As Bishop Todd Hunter has humorously stated, “God is not in heaven, pacing back and forth and wringing his hands, saying ‘Oh Myself! What am I going to do?’” Rather, God is as competent today as he has been since he joyfully spun his universe into being. 

We can trust in his competence to create, love and save. And by developing deep contentment, joy, and confidence in God’s competence, we know he will always do good by us. We can then lean into his capable process to train us into his likeness for his glory and the good of his world.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
Galatians 5:22-23

The above list of virtues is one of the most beautiful depictions of what a human life can and should be. This is what a person who loves well looks like. And while Paul only lists nine virtues here, there are others that he lists elsewhere that could easily go on this list, such as compassion, forgiveness, humility, holiness, eagerness to do good, faith, generosity, and hope.

Interestingly, Paul uses the singular form of the Greek noun for fruit, karpos. I truly believe this is strategic. Rather than listing separate virtues as fruits to pick and choose, he’s saying there is one singular, comprehensive, unified fruit of God’s Spirit. So what is the one fruit of the Spirit? Some would argue that it is Jesus’ character. Others argue that love is the foundational virtue and the remaining virtues are facets of love.

Perhaps it’s both. Jesus invites us to come and learn from him how to be like him. I think it’s safe to say he wants to train us into his full virtuous character so we can live naturally and easily in God’s kingdom. Yet, Paul says that faith, hope, and love are the eternal, enduring virtues, of which love is the greatest. In fact, in that passage, Paul states love is the most excellent way.

So maybe a way to view this is that the single fruit that the Spirit is developing in us is Jesus’s overall character, which encompasses a myriad of interconnected virtues such as love, joy, peace, humility, compassion, etc. And his overall character can be described as love.

Therefore, in order to love well, we must embody all of Jesus’ character — all of his virtues. Remember, love is intending the good for another. It means knowing what is good for that person and being capable to provide what is good.

Think of it this way. Can you love someone without joy? Can you intend the good of another without the pervasive sense of well-being in God? Probably. But not well, especially when joy is the good that is needed.

Can you love someone without humility? Can you intend the good of another without valuing them and their best interest above yourself? Maybe to some extent. But you won’t do it very well if you keep putting yourself first.

We can do this exercise with every virtue. You might be able to provide some level of good to someone, even while being underdeveloped in certain virtues. But whatever might be lacking in you — patience, peace, goodness, holiness, forgiveness — will prevent you from loving well and competently if that virtue is needed for the good of that person.

Remember, love is not an abstract concept. It is real. Love is intending real good for a real person. It requires real wisdom, real time, and real energy. And how you love one person will be very different from how you love another person. Each person will require different facets of love.

When we love someone competently, we need Jesus‘ wisdom to know what is good for that person and we need Jesus’ character and power to deliver what that good. That’s why Jesus is training us into all the aspects of love so we can embody his whole unified character in our lives. Then when a person needs joy or peace or humility or compassion or forgiveness, we can naturally and easily provide it.

We are learning to love well like Jesus because we are being trained by Jesus into everything Jesus is.

“That’s a sobering thought.” So said my friend when I shared this quote with her. And it is. Our culture convinces us that success in life is measured by wealth, possessions, accomplishments, busyness, influence, power, health, sex appeal, and reputation.

But in God’s upside-down and others-centered kingdom come to earth, true human success (if such a word is appropriate) is how well we have loved. And notice it’s not just that we loved, but how well we loved.

Bishop Todd Hunter has often used the phrase “competent love.” Jesus loved competently because his intent to do good to another was always infused with wisdom to know what good that person needed and the power to actually bring about that good. Whether it was casting out demons, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, comforting the hurting, or confronting the unjust, Jesus always knew exactly what was needed and was capable of bringing it into reality.

Then I think of my own attempts to love others. Most of the time, I feel I’m just acting lovingly. Acting lovingly is just that — acting. It’s not coming from the reality of embodied divine love within me. It’s just behavior modification. It’s trying to do something I’m not truly prepared to do. It’s like trying to play the piano when all I know are three chords. Sure the three chords might sound nice. But they don’t always work in every situation. And I end up trying to force them into a situation where they’re not helpful. And that’s not love.

As I follow Jesus as his apprentice, I can learn to practice love. This is different than acting lovingly. Sure my capacity and ability to love are still lacking as before. But now I’m practicing. I’m doing what I’m capable of doing to meet God in such a way that I slowly become able to do what I currently cannot do by direct effort. When I perform simple acts of love, and other relevant spiritual practices, that are within my capacity and in interaction with Jesus, they create opportunities for God to slowly transform me. As Dallas Willard states:

“They enable us to receive grace in the ordinary events of life to keep our minds centered in the mind of Christ, and acting with the Holy Spirit to be the kind of person Jesus has called us to be and gives us to be.”

To return to the piano analogy, now the three piano chords I’m capable of playing, along with practicing new skills under a teacher’s skillful tutelage, begin to transform me into a more capable piano player. And the music I create will change from constantly hammering three basic chords to new melodies and harmonies. 

Will I ultimately be a world-renowned pianist? Probably not. But I will be capable of playing with greater diversity and competence than before. I will be able to play well. Or to return to John of the Cross, I will be able to love well.

Loving well. Competent love. Practicing love with Jesus as our Master and Teacher transforms our hearts and lives into embodied love. Our thoughts, feelings, will, and bodies become more poised and capable of love. We’re no longer acting lovingly. Like God, we are love.

This is extremely essential since the greatest commandment in God’s kingdom is to love God and love others. As citizens and participants in his kingdom, we cannot merely act lovingly toward God and others. Like God, we must be love in order to love well.

I have to thank my friend, Roger, for that funny anecdote. Recently, a group of my friends discussed humility. A lot of good and challenging things were shared, causing many thoughts to whirl about in my mind. What is humility? How do we develop humility? And, ultimately, why?

We know “God opposes the proud and gives grace to humble.” So humility is obviously important to God and to our flourishing as humans and as his image-bearers in his world.

So let’s start with Jesus. In a previous post on humility, I mentioned Dane Ortlund’s observation that there is only one place in the gospels where Jesus describes his own heart:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 
Matthew 11:28-30

This intimate self-description accompanies an invitation to become Jesus’ apprentices so we can learn to live our lives in God’s kingdom. By learning to adopt his lifestyle and practices, we learn to have our hearts shaped into Jesus’ gentle and humble heart so we can become like him and live our lives as if he were living in our place.

Jesus’ heart is gentle and humble. Interestingly, a pairing of similar Greek words occurs in two other places in Paul’s letters.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love,which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
Colossians 3:12-14

Here they appear in a cluster of virtues with which Jesus’ apprentices are expected to clothe themselves. These others-centered virtues are Jesus’ natural posture toward us and can become a natural part of who we are.

Humility and gentleness appear together in another passage:

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
Ephesians 4:1-2

In this case, humility and gentleness are part of the others-centered calling we’re expected to live as Jesus’ apprentices. Similar to Colossians 3, humility and gentleness are clustered with patience and love.

In Galatians 5, Paul lists some of the Holy Spirit’s fruit that should be growing in our lives as Jesus’ apprentices. He includes, gentleness, patience and love. While not explicitly listing humility, we know this list is not exhaustive and Paul has included humility in other clusters of virtues as seen above. So I think we can safely assume humility would be another aspect of the Spirit’s fruit.

In Philippians 2:3-4, Paul describes the practical expression of humility:

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Philippians 2:3-4

This quick survey is to show that humility is core to who Jesus is, and therefore core to who he wants us to become as his apprentices. Humility, along with the other others-centered virtues of the Spirit’s fruit of divine love, is something we can learn from Jesus so that it becomes second nature to us. As our hearts are transformed into humble hearts like Jesus, we are able to routinely and easily value others and their best interest above our own, just as God does.

So how do we develop humility. Like all the other virtues that form Jesus’ character, it’s not something that is magically bestowed upon us. Nor is it something we can squeeze out of ourselves. Like every aspect of our apprenticeship with Jesus, it’s developed through a synergistic, interactive, and dependent relationship with Jesus in the moments of our daily lives.

Our daily lives present many opportunities to train with Jesus into humility. Sometimes these opportunities may be painful. The psalmist writes of this experience:

It was good for me to be afflicted
so that I might learn your decrees.
Psalm 119:71

The Hebrew word for “afflicted” is translated in some Bibles as “humbled.” So it’s good for us to be humbled through painful moments of affliction or suffering, if we don’t resist them in pride and learn God’s instruction. Think about those humbling and even humiliating opportunities that we face. Making a mistake. Being called out by our boss. Being corrected by our spouse. Being misunderstood by a friend. Dealing with a sickness. Enduring a financial loss. Having our reputation discredited. 

But there are also many other gentler opportunities throughout our day to form humility. Holding a door open for someone. Letting another driver into our lane ahead of us. Letting someone go ahead of us in a crowded line. Listening to our child when we feel we have more important matters. Thanking our barista by their name when we buy our morning coffee. Listening to someone without thinking about what we will say next. Not having to correct someone or have the last word. Taking care of chores or tasks for our spouse without being asked and without fanfare.

Notice these opportunities value other people above ourselves. By lovingly putting other people first throughout our day, Jesus can use those opportunities to form habits and transform our heart.

These opportunities fit within three general practices that Dallas Willard says help develop humility

Don’t pretend. Be realistic about yourself. Only with the help of God can you make your life work. You are an apprentice to Jesus who is learning to live completely in God’s hands. Be content with that. Don’t pretend to be anything else. Don’t self-promote. 

Don’t presume. Willard says we are “to be who you are where you are.” Let go of assumptions and expectation about how you should be treated. Don’t grasp for recognition.

Don’t push. Willard states that you “should stand for what is right, stand for who you are, stand for God. But let him do the pushing.” Learn to wait for God’s timing. Don’t push your agenda. Don’t try to bring about change. And remember that all outcomes are God’s responsibility, not yours.

All three of these general practices, like the many daily opportunities, can be used by Jesus to train us to value others above ourselves and develop the virtue of humility.

Humility is part of the ethos of God’s upside-down others-centered kingdom where the greatest commandment is to love God and love others. Our King Jesus is humble in heart and can train us to be like him. And we need to become like him so that life in his kingdom is easy and natural for the glory of God and the good of others.

In Psalm 90:12, Moses prays, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Moses isn’t saying to count the number of days we might have left. Anyone can do that. In fact, just a couple of verses before, he says, “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures.”

Nor do I think he’s saying to remind ourselves of our mortality and fragility. Knowing we only have 70-80 years naturally reminds us that our time on earth is short.

Moses asks God to ”teach us” to number our days. In other words, there is a particular way of viewing our lives that is a revelation from God and not from our own wisdom. And this revelation produces a heart of wisdom, or the skill to live well.

I believe St Paul was very acquainted with this Psalm and prayed for God’s revelation. And while he doesn’t state he received direct revelation about Psalm 90:12, I believe God taught him how to “number his days” so that it produced genuine skill for living. And I believe he shares this revelation and wisdom in Ephesians 5:15-16: 

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

Many modern translations interpret the Greek “exagorazomenoi ton kairon” as “making the most of every opportunity”. I think this may miss the nuance of the phrase. Paul states that the days are evil. So I believe the King James Version provides a better translation, “redeeming the time.” Because the days are evil by default, we are to redeem, rescue, or buy back moments from evil and for good. So, whatever translation we might use, the divine revelation of Psalm 90:12 through Paul is to transform specific moments of our days for good because by default, they naturally drift toward evil. And we do this by carefully and diligently living as wise people.

Throughout his writings, Paul gives many example of how to live skillfully and wisely. And we find a perfect example a few verses above in Ephesians 5:8-10:

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.”

We are to live as children of light, who bear the fruit of light — goodness, righteousness, and truth — in the moments of our day.

So what does this mean from a practical perspective? First, I would talk with Jesus about specific moments in your life that can be redeemed from evil and for good. For example, how do you spend your time driving to work? Are you listening to the news, talk radio, or a podcast? Or are you worrying about specific details of your life? That’s a perfect opportunity to buy back that time for goodness, righteousness and truth.

As you drive to work, perhaps you can meditate on a passage of Scripture. Or you could slowly pray through the Lord’s Prayer or Psalm 23. Or you could pray a short blessing on people you pass who are out jogging or walking. Or you can pray for your co-workers.

We are to live as children of light and rescue specific moments of time from evil’s grasp by overlapping the regular moments of our day with the pursuit of goodness, righteousness, and truth, along with whatever is noble, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy (Phil 4:8). It’s not about adding more things to do in your busy schedule, but transforming what you’re already doing into moments of goodness with God. This is the way toward numbering our days and toward a heart of skillful wisdom.

And God said… And God said… And God said… Every word was carried and energized by the God’s Breath to bring order from chaos, light from darkness, life from emptiness, and beauty from formlessness.

With each day of the first week, God establishes functional order in the cosmos, inaugurating his creation as his cosmic temple. Creation was now his dwelling place from which he would rule as king. Creation was the place where the dual dimensions of heaven and earth merged into a singular creative, beautiful, and life-giving reality, enjoying God’s life and rule and increasingly growing into God’s fullness.

And the pinnacle of God’s creation was human beings. Mankind is made in God’s image and commissioned with the same creative vocation as his ruach. Mankind is to help realize the incredible potential built within God’s creation by multiplying God’s image through procreation and by cooperatively co-ruling over creation. And Genesis uses the picture of gardeners to show how humans are to co-rule over creation as God’s image. We are to nurture and cultivate further order, light, life and beauty in God’s temple. In fact, mankind is uniquely created to carry out the ruach’s gardening vocation as humans are formed from the dust of creation and filled with God’s ruach, his Breath. 

These ruach-filled image-bearing humans would bring about further order, light, life, and beauty in God’s temple-creation by creating families, neighborhoods, communities, cities, businesses, technology, and culture.

But calamity strikes as the ruach-filled image-bearers reject God’s rule, grasp self-autonomy, and set about shaping God’s creation into their now-broken image.

For the following centuries, God then works like a gardener, cultivating a hand-planted family into a thriving nation. And like any gardener patiently enduring destructive elements like weeds, pests, and drought in order to bring forth fruit, God keeps preparing Israel until fruit emerges at just the right time.

Jesus.

Jesus comes as Israel’s gardener-king. He is a new and true ruach-filled image-bearer. With incredible power and wisdom, he announces and demonstrates God’s kingdom, planting seeds and cultivating much-needed healing and transformation into the lives around him. And he calls everyone to follow him as his apprentices, to learn from him how to become like him so they too can be restored into God’s image as gardener-kings.

But then calamity strikes. Or so it would seem. Jesus is betrayed and killed. The gardener-king buried in the earth. The gardener becoming a dying seed falling to the ground to produce many seeds (John 12:24).

Three days later, on the first day of brand new week, God speaks forth his New Creation. Order from chaos. Light from darkness. Life from death. Beauty from atrocity. Jesus is alive!

It is the first day of the week, the first day of the New Creation. Mary Magdalene stands crying outside an empty tomb. A voice asks her, “Why are you crying?” She turns and a sees Jesus, but mistakes him for the gardener. A mistake ripe with incredible truth. For here stands the gardener-king, already cultivating the fruit of God’s New Creation in her. One word. “Mary.” And she’s overwhelmed with love, joy, peace, hope and faith! And she goes to Jesus’ other apprentices to tell them the news, planting more seeds and cultivating further order, light, life and beauty in them.

Later that evening, on the first day of the New Creation, Jesus appears to his apprentices and creates the restored humanity who will again co-rule in God’s New Creation. As in the first creation, Jesus commissions them with their image-bearing vocation:

“Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
John 20:21

And then he breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Restored ruach-filled image-bearers who are commissioned to co-rule as gardener-kings alongside THE ruach-filled Image of God, THE Gardener-King!

Paul says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the New Creation has come!” As apprentices of Jesus, we are learning from him how to be the New Creation in human form. And we are learning from him how to cultivate that New Creation around us. Whether you are a doctor, a project manager, a stay-at-home parent, a graphic designer, a machinist, an electrician, an accountant, an Uber driver, a barista, a student or anything else in between, you are first and foremost a gardener. Like God. Like Jesus.

That’s why Paul says:

“Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father.”
Colossians 3:17

Like God and like Jesus, we are cultivating order, light, life and beauty in the people and world around us as God’s ruach-filled image-bearers. We are gardener-kings.

I’m fully convinced that apprenticeship to Jesus is the most essential thing to living a genuinely human life, now and eternally. It doesn’t matter your age, personality, gender, or any other facet of life. Jesus is both a master at living in God’s kingdom as well as training everyone else to do the same.

Frankly, it’s virtually impossible for any of us to live in God’s kingdom without Jesus showing the way. That’s because God’s kingdom is radically different from all the other kingdoms that exist in our world.

All of the other kingdoms are the broken and destructive results of the original transgression. The first humans decided they would be self-autonomous and define good and evil according to themselves rather than God’s wisdom. Every generation since that initial rebellion has contributed to a world filled with selfishness, contempt, violence, greed, and self-preservation. Every kingdom has been built upon this brokenness and every person living in the world’s kingdoms is both perpetrator and victim.

Jesus comes to rescue us from these corrupt kingdoms by bringing us into God’s kingdom — God’s rule and activity for the flourishing of humans, and through us to the rest of creation. Because it is completely void of the original transgression, God’s kingdom is completely upside-down from all the other kingdoms. So much so that after proclaiming that God’s kingdom had arrived, Jesus had to spend vast amounts of time teaching and showing people how God’s kingdom operated. 

This is summarized in the word “righteousness” — to live right by God and right by others. This righteousness is based on virtues such as love, joy, peace, humility, generosity, contentment, and compassion. It’s counter-intuitive to our experience in the world’s kingdoms where virtually any chance of success is based on money, power, prestige, fame, beauty, possessions, skills, education, and ambition.

This is why apprenticeship to Jesus is so essential. He is the master practitioner in God’s upside-down kingdom. He knows how to easily and naturally live rightly at all times and in all situations. And he is such a master, that he can teach this to anyone who chooses to join him as an apprentice.

God’s kingdom is not only upside-down to all the other kingdoms, but it’s also lived from the inside-out. Much of Jesus’ teaching addresses this. Israel were hand-picked by God to learn and embody God’s flourishing activity for the good of the world. However, by Jesus’ time, they had made a fatal mistake. They focused on outwardly obeying God’s commandments without addressing their inward brokenness. So rather than becoming an upside-down nation embodying God’s kingdom, their failure to deal with the inward brokenness formed them into a kingdom like all the others.

While they attempted to live rightly with God and others through outward obedience, this form of “righteousness” missed the actual target — the human heart. Our will — and all of the human aspects of our humanness touched by our will — need to be transformed from the inside-out. This is what Jesus meant when he said:

For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:20

Our righteousness must go far deeper than the meticulous outward compliance to God’s Law. It must come from a transformed will, expressed through our thoughts, emotions, decisions, body and relationships. Only then can we live rightly in God’s kingdom.

Jesus shows that God’s kingdom deals with the inner brokenness that has plagued humanity from the beginning. Life in God’s kingdom flows from the healed and transformed “insides” of the human will and mind to the “outsides” of the human body and relationships.

Put plainly, we can become people who have learned the inward virtues of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, forgiveness, compassion, generosity, and humility. From that healed inward reality, we can live in God’s flourishing activity.

We don’t have to be angry. We don’t have to lust. We don’t have to lie, bully, or manipulate. We don’t have to be anxious, worry, or fret. We don’t have to slander or gossip. We don’t have to self-promote or self-protect. We don’t have to amass and protect wealth. We don’t have to manage our reputation or brand. We don’t have to lash out or pull away in our relationships. We don’t have to strive for influence or authority. We don’t have to retaliate.

Do you realize that all of those things were virtually impossible for Jesus, not because he was God, but because he was a healthily formed human being who had fully mastered life in God’s kingdom? For example, at the “worst” moment of his life — betrayed, falsely convicted, abused, and brutally impaled upon a cross — it was natural and easy for him to genuinely pray for his enemies, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

And Jesus can show us how to become like him in every way. Again, this is why apprenticeship to Jesus is essential. Only he can train and transform us into his character, faith, and power. 

He can show us how to live his way of life from the inside-out as we pursue God’s upside-down kingdom.

Welcome to an amazing eternal life, Max! Your mommy and daddy are incredibly loving people who will wrap you in their love and care. And you are surrounded by grandpas, grandmas, uncles, aunts, and many others who love you deeply and will be here for you as grow in God’s good world.

Among this loving group of people you will find one who stands out above us all. Jesus. He made you, loves you, and delights in who you are. You being here is a sheer act of his goodness. And he will always be with you, showing you how to be the beautiful and good eternal person in his Father’s kingdom that he created you to be.

Welcome to God’s incredible universe and to our family, Max! We love you!

And conversely, when I didn’t fully accomplish what I wanted, I simply blamed my lack of will power.

So when I decided to be Jesus’ apprentice, I applied the same perspective about willpower to my spiritual formation. I wanted to be like him in his character and power, so I exerted my will toward both a full regiment of spiritual disciplines and attempts to stop sinful behavior. I thought the more disciplines I practiced, the greater transformation I would experience. And while I succeeded in memorizing large swathes of Scripture, spending more time in prayer, studying theology, and stopping some sinful behavior, I was not being transformed into a person filled with God’s love for the good of others. I was disciplined but not transformed.

What I learned the hard way is that willpower may be strong enough to change external behavior, but it is never, never able to transform the inner life. As I’ve said before, I can act loving, but it’s still acting.

Imagine driving a car with bad alignment so that it severely pulls to the left. In order to go straight down the road, you have to constantly pull the steering wheel to the right. Your will has changed the behavior of the car. But the moment you let up on the pressure to the steering wheel, the car naturally pulls to the left again. In the same way, willpower can change some behavior, but it cannot transform the inner “misalignment” of our life.

What’s worse, when willpower succeeds in establishing discipline and eliminating some external behavior, we can become proud of that success. We begin to measure our spirituality or personal righteousness by the false metrics of spiritual practices and external behavior. That’s what Jesus called “the righteousness of the Pharisees.” They measured their personal piety by external metrics. 

But Jesus tells his apprentices:

“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:20

True righteousness is measured by the health of the inner life. You may not commit adultery (the righteousness of the Pharisees) but if you’re freely lusting, then inwardly you’re an adulterer. You may not have killed someone (again the external measuring of righteousness by the Pharisees), but if you’re angry toward someone, then inwardly you’re a murderer.

As Dallas Willard used to teach, “The thief is not the person who steals, but the one who would steal if he or she could get away with it”. In other words, true righteousness is not determined by external behavior, but by a person’s internal character and posture. And that internal character and posture is untouchable by our will.

Our troubles occur when our will is captivated by our desires, when we want what we want. The gratification of desire, exerting our will to get what we want, gives us a temporary sense of completeness and power. When these behaviors become habituated in our bodies, our will becomes virtually powerless to stop the behavior.

So how do we apply the will in spiritual formation? Our will must fit into the overall psychology of spiritual formation. The first thing we can apply our will toward is where we will place our mind. I’ve written a little about this recently, but the first and most important thing we can do is learn to always keep God before our minds. Willard states, “The will to place our mind upon God and orient all our life around him is the primary role of the will in the good life.” Our minds must always turn to God and his goodness. Our vision and experiential knowledge of God must generate a constant satisfaction, contentment, and joy with God and all his dealings with us.

Willard then states:

“When this is done and has become a habitual disposition, we can then begin to reorder all of the other dimensions of the self around God and what is good. This is where Spiritual Disciplines come in, though they are not adequate in themselves for the reordering of life that goes into spiritual (re)formation. They are necessary but not sufficient.”

Our will can then be applied to simple routine practices (spiritual disciplines) currently within our power that will open moments of our lives and the aspects of our personality (thoughts, feelings, will, body, relationships, and soul) to God’s grace. In this way we joyfully cooperate with God as he transforms us internally so we are eventually able do what we currently cannot do.

Or as Willard states:

“Spiritual transformation only happens as each essential dimension of the human being is transformed to Christlikeness under the direction of a regenerate will interacting with constant overtures of grace from God. Such transformation is not the result of mere human effort and cannot be accomplished by putting pressure on the will (heart, spirit) alone.”

Rather than outlining an example of how this would work, I would like to direct you to more lengthy and well-thought discussion by Dallas Willard on the subject of pornography. The article linked below entitled, Beyond Pornography, is important for a couple of reasons. First, pornography is a wide-spread problem in our culture. Second, most people try to overcome this issue by willpower alone. So the article provides a vivid example of how the will and the other components of the human personality are essential to work with God toward transformation. And third, virtually everything discussed in the article can be modified to deal with virtually any other issue in our lives.

https://dwillard.org/resources/articles/beyond-pornography

“Those who experience moral failure are those who have failed to live a deeply satisfied life in Christ, almost without exception. I know my temptations come out of situations where I am dissatisfied, not content. I am worried about something or not feeling the sufficiency I know is there. If I have a strong temptation, it will be out of my dissatisfaction.”

A few lines later he writes:

“The surest guarantee against failure is to be so at peace and satisfied with God that when wrongdoing presents itself, it isn’t even interesting. That is how we stay out of temptation.”

Willard offers an important truth to spiritual formation: Temptation and sin are symptoms of dissatisfaction with God. A life that is joyfully and peacefully satisfied, secure, and content in God finds nothing else to be appetizing or tempting. And conversely, a life that is dissatisfied, insecure and discontent in God will inevitably turn to something else.

In order to take advantage of this wisdom, I think it’s important to rethink how we view sin. But before we do, I want to say upfront that I am not trying to dilute or diminish sin. I believe the Bible is very clear about the severity of sin’s destructive and dehumanizing power. The damaging power of sin is evident from the first chapters of the Bible when the first humans plucked the forbidden fruit to seek self-autonomy, through the Old Testament’s narrative arc of humanity’s and Israel’s constant failure, and into the New Testament, ultimately resulting in the sacrifice of God’s own son. Only through Jesus is there full forgiveness and redemption from sin.

The shift in perspective I recommend is viewing sin more as a state of unhealth rather than a violation of God’s legal code. Sin is a disease of the soul more than a crime in a courtroom. This doesn’t diminish sin’s destructive power nor our need to confess, repent, and ask for God’s and others’ forgiveness, mercy and grace. 

But we shouldn’t stop there. If sin is a disease of the soul, a symptom of our dissatisfaction with God, we should use it in cooperation with God to diagnose where the unhealth lies and what steps might be needed to move toward health.

For example, if you’re prone to exploding in anger, then you need God to reveal where your dissatisfaction and discontentment with him lie. Are you dissatisfied with not getting what you want? Are you dissatisfied with your inability to control circumstances and people? Are you dissatisfied with how others act? Are you dissatisfied with your circumstances — career, health, finances, relationships, talents, unfulfilled dreams?

The same kind of analysis with God needs to occur with anxiety, lust, gluttony, consumerism, pride, hatred, fear, gossip, apathy, laziness and any other destructive quality that might plague us. These arise when we don’t believe we’re satisfied, safe, cared for, and confident with God in our lives. They are destructive forms of self-autonomy, attempts once again to pluck fruit from a tree that we believe will give us control over our lives because we don’t believe our God and Creator is able or willing to care completely for us like he’s promised.

Later in the same article, Willard offers the following sage advice for addressing our dissatisfaction.

“I encourage pastors to have substantial times every week when they do nothing but enjoy God. That may mean walking by a stream, looking at a flower, listening to music, or watching your children or grandchildren play without your constantly trying to control them. Experience the fullness of God, think about the good things God has done for you, and realize he has done well by you. If there is a problem doing that, then work through the problem, because we cannot really serve him if we do not genuinely love him.”

Notice he doesn’t say, “Try harder.” Since temptation and sin are symptoms of dissatisfaction and discontentment with God, the answer is not to try harder to resist temptation and stop sinning. Nor is the answer to try harder to pray, study scripture, and practice additional disciplines to force transformation. The answer is to make time to enjoy God, to experience the goodness of God, and to remember he has done well by you.

Upon that foundation, God may reveal other simple disciplines to practice that will bring our engrained habits of temptation and sin before his transforming grace. A good rule of thumb is:

Sins of commission usually need spiritual disciplines of abstinence (solitude, silence, fasting, etc) and sins of omission need spiritual disciplines of engagement (community, worship, prayer, etc).

But even these specific spiritual disciplines are simply practiced with peace and joy so that they immerse us in a deep satisfaction and contentment with God.

It’s a famous line from Jesus’ prayer. Christians all over the world pray it. Some with passionate zeal, longing for God’s justice and mercy in their lives. Others pray it with trepidation, fearing that God will force them into decisions and situations they dread.

But what if there’s a greater dimension to the phrase, “Your will be done”? Here’s a startling thought from Dallas Willard:

“It is God’s intention that we should grow into the kind of person he could empower to do what we want to do. Then we are ready to ‘reign for ever and ever’ (Rev. 22:5).”
The Divine Conspiracy

What kind of person would we have to become for God to grant us that kind of power and freedom? A person whose will has been formed to match and embody God’s will. This is someone who has trained with Jesus so their will’s natural inclination is to always choose and do what God would chose and do.

Or to paraphrase Willard, God wants us to become people to whom he could give his power and then release into his universe with the same words we’ve prayed to him, “Now, your will be done.”

Such a thought is almost unfathomable. I barely understand God’s will throughout most of my life. And from what little I do understand, my will is nowhere near God’s will.

God’s will is funded by his divine love. So his will is directed toward the thriving and flourishing of every aspect of creation. Everything he wants accomplished is for the good of what he has made. And while every aspect and component of creation, from the smallest quark to the largest galaxy cluster, is easily within his knowledge and control, he also knows when not to let his will be accomplished for a time. But everything he decides and does is motivated by an immense love that is capable and competent to unleash his boundless goodness for everyone and everything so they thrive.

My will, on the other hand, is driven by my self-centeredness and directed toward my comfort, security, and reputation. Sure there might be times of true love and altruism toward other people. But what naturally comes out of my will is more about me. 

Bottom-line, God’s will is all about everything and everyone else thriving and my will is about me being in control.

And that’s why Jesus’ offer of apprenticeship is the good news of God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom — his active will and reign in the here-and-now of our lives — is available in and through Jesus. He is a genuine human being that has learned to fully embody God’s will in the nitty-gritty reality of daily human life.

“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered.”
Hebrews 5:8

“Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”
John 5:19

“For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
John 12:49-50

He invites us to learn the same thing from him. And if we are able to give up our own way and die to our twisted, self-centered will, then he is able to train us to become like him.

We see a teaser of Jesus’ training program. At one point, he empowers, instructs, and releases his twelve apprentices. At this point in their training, they were able to sufficiently understand and execute the Father’s will for the project at hand.

“When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them: ‘Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.’ So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.”
Luke 9:1-6

And later in Luke 10:1-12, Jesus does virtually the exact same thing to 72 of his apprentices. All of this is to say, Jesus is capable of training people to become like him — a person whose will is being formed into God’s will so God can empower and release to competently do what they want because what they want is what he wants.

So how can we learn from Jesus to reform our myopic self-centered will into an others-centered will like God’s, one that is fully committed and capable to help those around us to thrive and flourish?

Frankly, this is the primary goal of Jesus’ apprenticeship project. And this project is lifelong and individualized for each apprentice. But I think there are several key components we are learning over the decades of our life.

1. Learn to trust Jesus to train you: He is fully capable to teach you regardless of your age, gender, personality, family of origin, ethnicity, education, career, wealth, and any other distinguishing factor of your life. He is brilliant and the true master of life. So you can let go of your own way to learn his lifestyle and the practices that formed him.

2. Learn from Jesus how to always keep God before your mind: This is the first and most basic practice of an apprentice. Jesus said in John 17:3 that the life from the age to come (eternal life) is an interactive, experiential knowledge of God and King Jesus. Therefore, we need to learn from Jesus how to stay in constant communication and interaction with the Trinitarian God.

3. Learn from Jesus true joy, contentment and confidence in God: Jesus is able to train you to find genuine, whole-life fulfillment and satisfaction in an interactive life with God, regardless of your life circumstances. Your faith in Jesus will develop into the faith of Jesus, confidently aware that you are always well-off and cared for by your loving Father in his good world. You are trained through experience that you lack nothing good and therefore, never need to feel any compulsion to pursue something you believe to be lacking. Your comfort, security and reputation are in God’s capable hands. You are content in God and truly believe he is doing well by you.

4. Learn from Jesus to release any and all desire to maintain control over people and circumstances: Because you lack nothing good and God is fully committed to your thriving and flourishing, you no longer need to steer people and circumstances toward what you want. Instead, your only concern is their thriving and flourishing. You act in love and goodness toward them and peacefully let God control all outcomes.

5. Learn from Jesus how to pursue love: Remember that we are not learning to act loving, as good as that might be. Acting loving is only acting. We want to learn from Jesus to be possessed by God’s love, the very thing that moves his will to the competent thriving and flourishing of his creation. We want to become like Jesus, a human being so permeated with God’s love that he always placed others above himself for their good. 

I’m sure there are many other important components to learn from Jesus as we train and journey towards becoming people formed into God’s will. But those are five key components that Jesus has been teaching me for several years.

Remember, we are ceaseless beings with an eternal destiny in God’s great universe. That eternal destiny is to become people who will co-reign with God, people embodying God’s thriving and flourishing will toward his creation. Then he can empower us to do what we want to do and can say to us “Your will be done.”