Asking

One of the best books I have read on the Christian life is Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God (HarperCollins, 1998). The excerpt that follows sheds a light on how Christian fellowship actually works that few others have expressed. Willard is commenting on Matthew 7:7, "Ask, and you shall receive," saying that it applies not only to prayer but to our relationships with one another.

The Dynamic of the Request

The most important element in the transformation [of personal relationships] is this: As long as I am condemning my friends or relatives, or pushing my 'pearls' on them, I am their problem. They have to respond to me, and that usually leads to their 'judging' me right back, or 'biting' me, as Jesus said.

But once I back away, maintaining a sensitive and nonmanipulative presence, I am no longer their problem. As I listen, they do not have to protect themselves from me, and they begin to open up. (p. 231)

The continuation of this quote from Dallas Willard next time.