“Not Opposed to Effort, But to Earning”

Willpower doesn’t save you from your sins.

Only God can do that.

But that doesn’t mean willpower is without purpose.

Renovation of the Heart

In 2002, philosopher Dallas Willard released a wonderful book entitled Renovation of the Heart.

The book is a call to, in the words of the author, organize “all of the essential parts of the human self… around God…”

A prominent theme throughout Willard’s book is that salvation isn’t just a one-time act in which we receive God’s grace and then call it a day.

Christ’s is a grace that we must return to again and again and again.

How do we do that?

Through discipline.

“But wait, Jon,” says the hypothetical version of you who never stops talking to me as I write these, “you’ve consistently stressed the limits of our willpower only to now insinuate that by being disciplined we can be brought closer to God?”

Yes.

Where Willpower Helps

Here at Theophilus, we’ve spoken at length about spiritual disciplines so I’ll keep this brief.

Spiritual disciplines like prayer, fasting, or Scripture are designed as invitations of the Holy Spirit to make us more like Jesus.

The disciplines have no power on their own, they are merely expressions of our desire to continuously seek Christ and obey His teachings. Any growth or change that comes from them is a result of God’s grace intervening.

They do require a certain level of willpower, however.

A certain level of willpower is required to get up early, pray, and read Scripture.

A certain level of willpower is required to abstain from food for a period of time.

A certain level of willpower is required to commit to a community of fellow Christ followers.

This is how we make willpower work for us, by directing it towards spiritually healthy habits that make seeking God easier.

But the true, deep, and lasting work? That’s all Him.

My point with this series is simple. Willpower is certainly helpful but we should never depend on it for deep, meaningful change. In fact, we should never depend on anything or anyone that isn’t God for such change.

May we learn to see willpower for what it is, a helpful supplement to a life of seeking God’s beautiful grace, the true source of all spiritual growth.

As Willard himself said: “Grace is not opposed to effort, but to earning.”

We could never earn it but we can make a great effort to honor it.

See you next week.

For now, be blessed.

Jon,

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