How can gazing on an image of Jesus on the cross, for example, affect our soul? Dallas notes that when we gaze on our crucified Lord we “bring the heart-wrenching goodness of God, his incomprehensible graciousness and generosity” before our minds. Dallas concludes, “The key, then, to loving God is to see Jesus.” And to see or meditate on the broken and lifeless body of Jesus is to witness the pinnacle of his sacrificial nature.
Dallas Willard as quoted in The Kingdom and the Cross by James Bryan Smith (Downers Grove: IVP, 2010) 39.