do something

Dallas Willard spent yesterday at our local church teaching a group of men and then a group of pastors. When Dallas speaks you always come away more in awe of Jesus. What an unusual quality. Usually when someone of such prominence in Christian circles speaks you come away in awe of the speaker.

Here is one of his gems.

“Jesus said, ‘Without me you can do nothing.' To which he could add, ‘And if you do nothing it will certainly be without me.’”

The Christian life is working with Jesus. It is not being “saved” by him and then just sitting back and wait. We are to fulfill our destiny in his plan. We are to do something. When we make ourselves available Jesus can take over with his power.

Dallas uses the analogy of power steering. I am old enough to have driven cars without power steering. So, the comparison works for me. Without power steering, you are pulling on that wheel pretty hard. There are times when two hands are called for. With power steering, you still have to start the turn, but then the power takes over. You can steer with one finger, but you still have to move it before the power takes over.

Jesus provides the power, but you still have to do something.