“Jeder Ruf Christi fuhrt in den Tod” (every call of Christ leads to death) – Bonhoeffer (modern trans. “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die”)
The Hope of Glory
The Christian life and experience cannot be lived vicariously. This means that you cannot live the Christian life by clinging to the coat-tails of another Christian, nor can you live your spiritual life through someone else. Nobody lives your life, but you. Reading your Bible with your spouse or children is no substitute for reading the Bible on your own. Praying with others is no substitute for praying alone before God. These activities are important, but they do not replace your personal responsibility towards God. There are many, however, who think like this and live like this. [Read more…]
All or Nothing!
When Jesus calls us to follow him nothing is permitted to come between Jesus & the disciple. Jesus has the last word.
True Disciples
“Is the price that we are paying today with the collapse of the organized churches anything else but an inevitable consequence of grace acquired too cheaply?
We gave away preaching & sacraments cheaply; we performed baptisms & confirmations; we absolved an entire people unquestioned & unconditionally; out of human love we handed over what was holy to the scornful & unbelievers.
We poured out rivers of grace without end but the call to rigorously follow Christ was seldom heard.”
These are the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer – how prescient of him! We have sold ourselves down the river as evangelicals by dispensing a grace that we have cheapened. We are reaping the harvest. Countless souls shall be lost but we persuaded them that we were right. It is time to return to the cost of being a true disciple.