The sinner is not the one who uses a lot of grace... The saint burns grace like a 747 burns fuel on take off.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the idea that grace is abundant and that its true value is shown in how it is utilized rather than simply possessed.
Dallas Willard's quote suggests that grace is an important and plentiful resource, akin to fuel for an airplane. He contrasts the sinner, who may seem to misuse grace, with a saint whose life exemplifies the dynamic and active use of grace, akin to an airplane using fuel during a powerful takeoff. This implies that the measure of one's character is not merely in receiving grace, but in how fully and vigorously one lives out that grace in action.
In practice
In a sermon about redemption, one could use this quote to illustrate the concept of grace in everyday life.
The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as βChristiansβ will become disciples β students, apprentices, practitioners β of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence.
The first act of love is always the giving of attention.
So many people would like to have guidance from God because obviously, if you have a word from God, it's the best possible thing. But they don't relate that to life as a whole. Often they want guidance as a way of opting out of the responsibility of making decisions.
What is truly profound is thought to be stupid and trivial, or worse, boring, while what is actually stupid and trivial is thought to be profound. That is what it means to fly upside down.
The basic question 'will I obey Christ 's teaching?' is rarely taken as a serious issue. For example, to take one of Jesus' commands, that is relevant to contemporary life, I don't know of any church that actually teaches a church how to bless people who curse them, yet this is a clear command.
When I left home after graduating high school, I left as a migrant agricultural worker with a Modern Library edition of Plato in my duffel bag. It sounds kind of crazy, but I loved it. I loved the stuff. Before I knew there was a subject called philosophy, I loved it.
Nothing is so wearing as the possession or abuse of liberty.
Every individual matters and has a role to play in this life on Earth.
Gods, religions and national boundaries are absolutely imaginary. They don't tend to exist. As soon as you pull back half a mile and look down at the Earth there are no national boundaries. There aren't even national boundaries when you get down and walk around. They're just imaginary lines we draw on maps. I just get fascinated by people who assume that things that are imaginary have no relevance to their lives.
What white woman, however lonely, was ever captive or insulted by me? Yet they say I am a bad Indian.
I'm tired of saying, "How wonderful you are!" to fool men who haven't got one-half the sense I've got, and I'm tired of pretending I don't know anything, so men can tell me things and feel important while they're doing it.
There is no point in being overwhelmed by the appalling total of human sufferring; such a total does not exist. Neither poverty nor pain is accumulable.
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