Current Book: The Spirit of the Disciplines, by Dallas Willard

I read The Divine Conspiracy a few months ago, and thought it was one of the best books on the Christian life I’ve ever seen. So Amy got me Willard’s earlier book, The Spirit of the Disciplines, for my birthday. I’m just now starting to read it, and it’s as promising as Conspiracy (pardon the abbreviation). A quote to get me started:

Our mistake is to think that following Jesus consists in loving our enemies, going the “second mile,” turning the other cheek, suffering patiently and hopefully?while living the rest of our lives just as everyone around us does. This is like the aspiring young baseball players [who imitate what great players do during games, but not the discipline and practice that make them great]. (p5)

And earlier:
The words of Jesus quoted above from Matthew 11:29-30 ["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."] present an alternative to the desolation of life lived apart from God. Yet, in all honesty, most Christians probably find both Jesus’ statement and its reiteration by the author of 1 John (5:3) to be more an expression of hope or even a mere wish than a statement about the substance of their lives….His teachings are treated as a mere ideal, one that we may better ourselves by aiming for but know we are bound to fall glaringly short of. (p2)