Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard
Week 6: Chapter 5 — Will: The Executive Center of the Self
Read Chapter 5 of Renovation of the Heart. Key passages: Matthew 26:39; Philippians 2:12-13; Romans 7:15-25.
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The will is the steering wheel of the human person — and Willard argues that its transformation is central to everything else, yet it cannot transform itself.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Willard describes the will as 'the executive center of the self' — the faculty that chooses, directs, and commits. In your experience, does the will feel like a reliable captain of your inner life, or does it feel more like Paul's description in Romans 7 — knowing the good but not doing it?
2.He argues that the human will, in its fallen state, is not free — it is enslaved to various habits, desires, and fears — and that true freedom of the will only comes through transformation, not through sheer determination. How does this challenge the common cultural assumption that willpower is the key to change?
3.Willard points to Jesus in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39) as the supreme model of a transformed will — 'not my will, but yours be done.' What made it possible for Jesus to pray that prayer genuinely? What would it take for us to be able to pray it with equal sincerity in the hard moments of our lives?
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