075: Vision, Intention, and Means

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“I have not failed. I've just found 1000 ways that won't work.”
–Thomas Edison, inventor of electric light

What is the path of inner transformation and becoming like Christ? Is such transformation even possible? 

Dallas Willard assures us it is readily available. 

We can, in time, become the kind of people who naturally bless those who curse us and love our enemies as our normal reaction. However, he presses that it happens only with a compelling vision of the Kingdom, a deliberate decision to seek it, and the engagement of effective means through which the Grace of God can flow as the rushing River of Life that Jesus has promised. Dallas refers to this pattern of human transformation as VIM: 

Vision, Intention, and Means. 

He argues that we can see the pattern of VIM at work in any effective human endeavor.

When it comes to the reformation of our humanity into the image and likeness of Jesus, Dallas argues that “if we are to be spiritually formed in Christ, we must have and must implement the appropriate vision, intention, and means. Not just any path we take will do. [Without these,] Christ simply will not be formed in us.”  (Renovation of the Heart, p. 87)

How is the VIM pattern relevant in our quest to become the kind of men to whom our Father can gladly entrust his Kingdom? 

Join Cherie and me as we explore the significance of vision, intention, and means more closely.

For the Kingdom,
Morgan

For more, check out Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard: