[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for your post!

I'm glad to see that what I suspected was true, the difference between your view and mine is a matter of word usage.

The word willful is defined:

1 : obstinately and often perversely self-willed
2 : done deliberately : INTENTIONAL
I always read the word willfully as "obstinately and often perversely self-willed."

With regard to the command to “abide in” Jesus, I also see it as a matter of choice to pour oneself (self-will and all) into Him upon His invitation. To me, it’s involved relinquishing control, sheltering in His love, wallowing in His being. Self has no practical significance therein.

[betty boop]

I'm going with definition #2. :^) I wonder, A-G, whether the "willful" extinction of "self" (which, after all, God created) as a goal may not be the sign of the mystic. (I've been accused of that myself; but in my case, I really don't think "the shoe fits.")