Is holiness necessary? Is it good for you?

Dallas Willard says many people think that modern holiness is about dressing in a certain way or associating with certain people, but being holy means being from another realm; “being in the world but not of it,” an inward unity with God.
We have to move to the inner sources of behavior to understand holiness in terms of external practices.
Everyone makes mistakes, but where the heart is headed makes the identity of the person.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). By choice and by grace you must find out who you are in God in order to be restored. (Grace is God acting in your life to accomplish what you cannot accomplish on your own.)

Willard identifies postmodern holiness as an easy, routine obedience to Christ, because it comes from one’s own identity, and that identity controls action. It builds up and structures a person’s character formation.

This is the first of two presentations given by Dallas Willard at the Azusa Pacific University School of Theology's 2010 Malcolm R. Robertson Lectureship on Holy Living. See the second one here:    • Dallas Willard- Holiness, Divine Pres...  

Visit our website for downloadable audio of these lectures: https://dwillard.org/holy-living