Dallas Willard on Discipleship

This quote from Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy really expresses my vision for discipleship and the role that apologetics plays in discipleship.

“After times of study and teaching, we will pay most attention precisely to the puzzles and ambiguities in our own minds and in the minds of our hearers.  What makes no sense?  What is not understood?  These unclarities are more important than questions about evidence or proof, though the latter are not to be slighted.  Most but not all uncertainties in the minds of disciples—and this is only somewhat less so for people in general—are the result of unclarities and failures to understand.  These shut down confidence and love, and we must never rest until they are cleanly dispersed from the mind.  I doing this, we of course are not just counting on our own cleverness and ability but stand in expectation of help from the Spirit of truth who is constantly at work in the disciples of Jesus.  We do all we do in knowledge that we are working alongside him.  Moreover, we do athis kind of work hand in hand with the cultivation of the mind and spirit through art and imagination, poetry and song, praise, prayer, and worship.  These all help our minds to lay hold of this God, this most lovable being in all reality.” (p. 328)