"Much time is spent among Christians trying to smooth over hurt feelings and even deep wounds, given and received, and to get people to stop being angry, retaliatory, and unforgiving. But suppose, instead, we devoted our time to inspiring and enabling Christians and others to be people who are not offendable and not angry and who are forgiving as a matter of course. "Great peac," the psalmist says, "have they who love thy law. Nothing trips them up" (Psalm 119:165).
To intentionally make disciples is to open the door for people to become like that. That is why it is such a gift to humankind.
But really to intend this is no trivial matter, of course. It means a huge change of direction. The weight of the tradition of client, or consumer, Christianity, which now without thought dominates the local congregations and denominations of Christian people - indeed, the entire Christian culture - stands against any such intention- not consciously, perhaps, but just by the inertia of "how things are," of the daily rounds and what "has to get done."
~ Dallas Willard. The Divine Conspiracy
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