Divine Conspiracy, Chapter 3

If I can get my youth to read and absorb this chapter, I will feel my ministry time has been worthwhile. In it, Willard describes a world saturated with God, and a Jesus who is, in fact, intelligent and wise. Think you already believe that? Try these on.

• The universe is an "all-encompassing, all-penetrating world, interactive at every point with our lives, where we can always be totally at home and safe regardless of what happens in the visible dimension of the universe."
• Space is to God as skin and flesh are to us: physical homes for spiritual beings. Empty space isn't.
• God is neither the old man in the sky nor is God in your heart.
• Self-care is not about health care or self-actualization: it is about living with the present reality that you will never stop living. (Great Mickey Mantle example, btw.)
• Jesus was and is the smartest man in the universe. No, I did not write "wisest" or "gentlest" or "most honorable": smartest. Someone who perfectly understands human relationships and God and molecular structures.  Jesus has "cognitive and practical mastery of every phase of reality: physical, moral, and spiritual....He always has the best information on everything and certainly also on the things that matter most in human life."  He is, therefore, the only one who certainly lives in "the real world" -- that is, ours.