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The Followers Of Christ Have Been Called To Peace. . . . And They Must Not Only Have Peace But Make It. And To That End They Renounce All Violence And Tumult. In The Cause Of Christ Nothing Is To Be Gained By Such Methods . . . . His Disciples Keep The Peace By Choosing To Endure Suffering Themselves Rather Than Inflict It On Others. They Maintain Fellowship Where Others Would Break It Off. They Renounce Hatred And Wrong. In So Doing They Overcome Evil With Good, And Establish The Peace Of God In The Midst Of A World Of War And Hate.

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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The Followers Of Christ

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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The Followers Of Christ Have Been Called To Peace. . . . And They Must Not Only Have Peace But Make It. And To That End They Renounce All Violence And Tumult. In The Cause Of Christ Nothing Is To Be Gained By Such Methods . . . . His Disciples Keep The Peace By Choosing To Endure Suffering Themselves Rather Than Inflict It On Others. They Maintain Fellowship Where Others Would Break It Off. They Renounce Hatred And Wrong. In So Doing They Overcome Evil With Good, And Establish The Peace Of God In The Midst Of A World Of War And Hate.

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Must The Christian Go Around Looking For A Cross To Bear, Seeking To Suffer? No, Insisted Bonhoeffer. Opportunities For Bearing Crosses Will Occur Along Life's Way And All That Is Required Is The Willingness To Act When The Time Comes. The Needs Of The Neighbor, Especially Those Of The Weak And Downtrodden, The Victimized And The Persecuted, The Ill And The Lonely, Will Become Abundantly Evident.

If Any Want To Become My Followers," Jesus Says. Following Him Is Not Something That Is Self-evident, Even Among The Disciples. No One Can Be Forced, No One Can Be Expected To Follow Him. ... "if Any Want To Follow Me, They Must Deny Themselves ... And Take Up Their Cross.

It Is Not Simply To Be Taken For Granted That The Christian Has The Privilege Of Living Among Other Christians. Jesus Christ Lived In The Midst Of His Enemies. … So The Christian, Too, Belongs Not In The Seclusion Of A Cloistered Life But In The Thick Of Foes. There Is His Commission, His Work.

God Does Not Love Some Ideal Person, But Rather Human Beings Just As We Are, Not Some Ideal World, But Rather The Real World.

As Christ Bore And Received Us As Sinners So We In His Fellowship May Bear And Receive Sinners Into The Fellowship Of Christ Through The Forgiving Of Sins.

Those Who Love Their Dream Of A Christian Community More Than The Christian Community Itself Become Destroyers Of That Christian Community Even Though Their Personal Intentions May Be Ever So Honest, Earnest, And Sacrificial.

Who Can Really Be Faithful In Great Things If He Has Not Learned To Be Faithful In The Things Of Daily Life?

The Essence Of Grace, We Suppose, Is That The Account Has Been Paid In Advance; And, Because It Has Been Paid, Everything Can Be Had For Nothing.

What Is The "extraordinary"? It Is The Love Of Jesus Christ Himself, Love That Goes To The Cross In Suffering Obedience.

Then Fear Will Grow Pale And Fade Away, And You Will Be Free, Through Your Faith In Our Strong And Living Savior, Jesus Christ.

Discipleship Is Not Limited To What You Can Comprehend – It Must Transcend All Comprehension. Plunge Into The Deep Waters Beyond Your Own Comprehension, And I Will Help You To Comprehend Even As I Do. Bewilderment Is The True Comprehension. Not To Know Where You Are Going Is The True Knowledge. My Comprehension Transcends Yours.

The Incarnation Is The Ultimate Reason Why The Service Of God Cannot Be Divorced From The Service Of Man.

Only He Who Gives Thanks For The Little Things Receives The Big Things.

Only The Suffering God Can Help.

God Loves Human Beings. God Loves The World. Not An Ideal Human, But Human Beings As They Are; Not An Ideal World, But The Real World. What We Find Repulsive In Their Opposition To God, What We Shrink Back From With Pain And Hostility, Namely, Real Human Beings, The Real World, This Is For God The Ground Of Unfathomable Love.

Advent Creates People, New People.

If You Want My Goodness To Stay With You Then Serve Your Neighbour, For In Him God Comes To You Himself; Such A Man Sees In His Neighbour The Material And Spiritual Need He Is Called To Meet.

The Church ... Is Not Just To Bandage The Victims Under The Wheel, But To Put A Spoke In The Wheel Itself.

Often We Combat Our Evil Thoughts Most Effectively If We Absolutely Refuse To Allow Them To Be Expressed In Words.

When Our Will Wholeheartedly Enters Into The Prayer Of Christ, Then We Pray Correctly.

You Can Only Learn What Obedience Is By Obeying

Christ Became Our Brother In Order To Help Us. Through Him Our Brother Has Become Christ For Us In The Power And Authority Of The Commission Christ Has Given Him. Our Brother Stands Before Us The Sign Of The Truth And The Grace Of God. He Has Been Given To Us To Help Us. He Hears The Confession Of Our Sins In Christ's Stead And He Forgives Our Sins In Christ's Name. He Keeps The Secret Of Our Confession As God Keeps It. When I Go To My Brother To Confess, I Am Going To God.

The Essence Of Optimism Is That It Takes No Account Of The Present, But It Is A Source Of Inspiration, Of Vitality And Hope Where Others Have Resigned; It Enables A Man To Hold His Head High, To Claim The Future For Himself And Not To Abandon It To His Enemy.

No One Has Yet Believed In God And The Kingdom Of Heaven, No One Has Heard About His Realm Of The Resurrected, And Not Been Homesick From That Hour, Waiting And Looking Forward Joyfully To Being Released From Bodily Existencedeath Is Hell And Night And Cold, If It Is Not Transformed By Our Faith. But That Is Just What Is So Marvelous, That We Can Transform Death.

Right Speech Comes Out Of Silence And Right Silence Comes Out Of Speech.

Thinking In Terms Of Two Realms Understands The Paired Concepts Worldy-christia N, Natural-superna Tural, Profane-sacred, Rational-revela Tions, As Ultimate Static Opposites...and Fails To Recognize The Original Unity Of These Opposites In The Christ-reality.

Battles Are Won, Not With Weapons, But With God. They Are Won Where The Way Leads To The Cross.

The Life Of Discipleship Is Not The Hero-worship We Would Pay To A Good Master, But Obedience To The Son Of God.

And After Death Something New Begins, Over Which All The Powers Of The World Of Death Can Have No More Control.

We Must Learn To Regard People Less In Light Of What They Do Or Omit To Do, And More In The Light Of What They Suffer.

The Lord Confers Great Honor On His Servants When He Brings Them Suffering.

Earthly Goods Are Given To Be Used, Not To Be Collected.... Hoarding Is Idolatry.

I Believe That Nothing That Happens To Me Is Meaningless And That It Is Good For Us All That It Should Be So, Even If It Runs Counter To Our Own Wishes. As I See It, I'm Here For Some Purpose, And I Only Hope I May Fulfill It.

Loving God Means Rejoicing In God, Being Eager To Think Of And Pray To God. It Means Being Glad To Be In God's Presence And To Be With God Alone. It Means Not Grieving God, But Rejoicing In God Simply Because It Is God Who Is Involved, And Because We Are Permitted To Know And Have God, And To Speak With And Live With God.

It Is Very Easy To Overestimate The Importance Of Our Own Achievements In Comparison With What We Owe Others.

Discipleship Means Adherence To Christ And, Because Christ Is The Object Of That Adherence, It Must Take The Form Of Discipleship. An Abstract Theology, A Doctrinal System, A General Religious Knowledge Of The Subject Of Grace Or The Forgiveness Of Sins, Render Discipleship Superfluous, And In Fact Exclude Any Idea Of Discipleship Whatsoever, And Are Essentially Inimical To The Whole Conception Of Following Christ....christianity Without The Living Christ Is Inevitably Christianity Without Discipleship, And Christianity Without Discipleship Is Always Christianity Without Christ.

Following Christ

God Turns Toward The Very Places From Which Humans Turn Away.

The Future Of Modern Society Depends Much More On The Quiet Heroism Of The Very Few Who Are Inspired By God. These Few Will Greatly Enjoy The Divine Inspiration And Will Be Prepared To Stand For The Dignity Of Man And True Freedom And To Keep The Law Of God, Even Of It Means Martyrdom Or Death.

The More Deeply We Grow Into The Psalms And The More Often We Pray Them As Our Own, The More Simple And Rich Will Our Prayer Become.

The Christian Needs Another Christian Who Speaks God's Word To Him. He Needs Him Again And Again When He Becomes Uncertain And Discouraged, For By Himself He Cannot Help Himself Without Belying The Truth.

It Is The Fellowship Of The Cross To Experience The Burden Of The Other. If One Does Not Experience It, The Fellowship He Belongs To Is Not Christian. If Any Member Refuses To Bear That Burden, He Denies The Law Of Christ.

But Discipleship Never Consists In This Or That Specific Action: It Is Always A Decision, Either For Or Against Jesus Christ...christ Speaks To Us Exactly As He Spoke To Them. It Was Not As Though They First Recognized Him As The Christ And Then Received His Command. They Believed His Word And Command And Recognized Him As The Christ--in That Order.

Time Is The Most Valuable Thing That We Have, Because It Is The Most Irrevocable.

Valuable Things

Possessions Are Not God's Blessing And Goodness, But The Opportunities Of Service Which He Entrusts To Us.

It Is Remarkable How I Am Never Quite Clear About The Motives For Any Of My Decisions. Is That A Sign Of Confusion Or Inner Dishonesty Or Is It A Sign That We Are Guided Without Our Knowing Or Is It Both ...the Reasons One Gives For An Action To Others And To One's Self Are Certainly Inadequate. One Can Give A Reason For Everything. In The Last Resort One Acts From A Level Which Remains Hidden From Us. So One Can Only Ask God To Judge Us And To Forgive Us.... At The End Of The Day I Can Only Ask God To Give A Merciful Judgement On Today And All Its Decisions. It Is Now In His Hand.

One Cannot Simply Read The Bible, Like Other Books. One Must Be Prepared Really To Enquire Of It. Only Thus Will It Reveal Itself. Only If We Expect From It The Ultimate Answer, Shall We Receive It. That Is Because In The Bible God Speaks To Us. And One Cannot Simply Think About God In One’s Own Strength, One Has To Inquire Of Him. Only If We Seek Him, Will He Answer Us.

While It Is Good That We Seek To Know The Holy One, It Is Probably Not So Good To Presume That We Ever Complete The Task.

The Limitation Of The Ethical Phenomenon To Its Place And Time Does Not Imply Its Rejection But, On The Contrary, Its Validation. One Does Not Use Canons To Shoot Sparrows.

Who Among Us Will Celebrate Christmas Correctly? Whoever Finally Lays Down All Power, L Honor, All Reputation, All Vanity, All Arrogance, All Individualism Beside The Manger; Whoever Remains Lowly And Lets God Alone Be High; Whoever Looks At The Child In The Manger And Sees The Glory Of God Precisely In His Lowliness.

Bless Them That Persecute You.' If Our Enemy Cannot Put Up With Us Any Longer And Takes To Cursing Us, Our Immediate Reaction Must Be To Lift Up Our Hands And Bless Him. Our Enemies Are The Blessed Of The Lord. Their Curse Can Do Us No Harm. May Their Poverty Be Enriched With All The Riches Of God, With The Blessing Of Him Whom They Seek To Oppose In Vain. We Are Ready To Endure Their Curses So Long As They Redound To Their Blessing.

Cheap Grace Is Grace Without Discipleship.

Christian Discipleship

If The Heart Is Devoted To The Mirage Of The World, To The Creature Instead Of The Creator, The Disciple Is Lost... However Urgently Jesus May Call Us, His Call Fails To Find Access To Our Hearts... For They Have Already Been Given To Another.

What Is Happiness And Unhappiness? It Depends So Little On The Circumstances; It Depends Really Only On What Happens Inside A Person. I Am Grateful For Every Day And That Makes Me Happy.

If You Reject God's Commanding Word, You Will Not Receive God's Gracious Word.

In Recent Years We Have Seen A Great Deal Of Bravery And Self-sacrifice, But Civil Courage Hardly Anywhere, Even Among Ourselves.

Jesus' Commandment Never Wishes To Destroy Life, But Rather To Preserve, Strengthen, And Heal Life.

Fruit Is Always The Miraculous, The Created; It Is Never The Result Of Willing, But Always A Growth. The Fruit Of The Spirit Is A Gift Of God, And Only He Can Produce It. They Who Bear It Know As Little About It As The Tree Knows Of Its Fruit. They Know Only The Power Of Him On Whom Their Life Depends

Fruits Of The Spirit

Prayer Does Not Mean Simply To Pour Out One's Heart. It Means Rather To Find The Way To God And To Speak With Him, Whether The Heart Is Full Or Empty.

Pain Is A Holy Angel Who Shows Us Treasures That Would Otherwise Remain Forever Hidden; Through Him Men And Women Have Become Greater Than Through All The Joys Of The World. It Must Be So And I Tell Myself This In My Present Situation Over And Over Again. The Pain Of Suffering And Of Longing, Which Can Often Be Felt Even Physically, Must Be There, And We Cannot And Need Not Talk It Away. But It Needs To Be Overcome Every Time, And Thus There Is An Even Holier Angel Than The One Of Pain; That Is, The One Of Joy In God.

We Are Silent At The Beginning Of The Day Because God Should Have The First Word, And We Are Silent Before Going To Sleep Because The Last Word Also Belongs To God.

In The New Testament Our Enemies Are Those Who Harbor Hostility Against Us, Not Those Against Whom We Cherish Hostility, For Jesus Refuses To Reckon With Such A Possibility.

The Church Knows Nothing Of A Sacredness Of War. The Church Which Prays'our Father'asks God Only For Peace.

Christianity Means Community Through Jesus Christ And In Jesus Christ. No Christian Community Is More Or Less Than This. Whether It Is A Brief, Single Encounter Or The Daily Fellowship Of Years, Christian Community Is Only This. We Belong To One Another Only Through And In Jesus Christ.

It Is Not Your Love That Sustains The Marriage, But From Now On, The Marriage That Sustains Your Love.

Inspirational Marriage

Marriage Problems

Disciples Will Not Be Weakened By Suffering, Worn Down, And Embittered Until They Are Broken. Instead, They Bear Suffering, By The Power Of Him Who Supports Them. The Disciples Bear The Suffering Laid On Them Only By The Power Of Him Who Bears All Suffering On The Cross. As Bearers Of Suffering, They Stand In Communion With The Crucified.

A Prison Cell, In Which One Waits, Hopes...and Is Completely Dependent On The Fact That The Door Of Freedom Has To Be Opened From The Outside, Is Not A Bad Picture Of Advent.

The Love For Our Enemies Takes Us Along The Way Of The Cross And Into Fellowship With The Crucified. The More We Are Driven Along This Road, The More Certain Is The Victory Of Love Over The Enemy's Hatred. For Then It Is Not The Disciple's Own Love, But The Love Of Jesus Christ Alone, Who For The Sake Of His Enemies Went To The Cross And Prayed For Them As He Hung There.

The Messengers Of Jesus Will Be Hated To The End Of Time. They Will Be Blamed For All The Division Which Rend Cities And Homes. Jesus And His Disciples Will Be Condemned On All Sides For Undermining Family Life, And For Leading The Nation Astray; They Will Be Called Crazy Fanatics And Disturbers Of The Peace. The Disciples Will Be Sorely Tempted To Desert Their Lord. But The End Is Also Near, And They Must Hold On And Persevere Until It Comes. Only He Will Be Blessed Who Remains Loyal To Jesus And His Word Until The End.

If We Are To Pray Aright, Perhaps It Is Quite Necessary That We Pray Contrary To Our Own Heart. Not What We Want To Pray Is Important, But What God Wants Us To Pray. The Richness Of The Word Of God Ought To Determine Our Prayer, Not The Poverty Of Our Heart.

Ultimate Seriousness In Not Without A Dose Of Humor.

The Heart Clings To Collected Treasure. Stored-up Possessions Get Between Me And God. Where My Treasure Is, There Is My Trust, My Security, My Comfort, My God. Treasure Means Idolatry.

Intercessory Prayer Is The Purifying Bath Into Which The Individual And The Community Must Enter Every Day.

The Church Is The Church Only When It Exists For Others...not Dominating, But Helping And Serving. It Must Tell Men Of Every Calling What It Means To Live For Christ, To Exist For Others.

Many Christians Are Unthinkably Horrified When A Real Sinner Is Suddenly Discovered Among The Righteous. So We Remain Alone With Our Sin, Living In Lies And Hypocrisy...he Who Is Alone With His Sins Is Utterly Alone.

Principles Are Only Tools In The Hands Of God; They Will Soon Be Thrown Away When They Are No Longer Useful.

So The Fool, As Distinct From The Scoundrel, Is Completely Self- Satisfied; In Fact, He Can Easily Become Dangerous, As It Does Not Take Much To Make Him Aggressive. A Fool Must Therefore Be Treated More Cautiously Than A Scoundrel.

Death Is The Supreme Festival On The Road To Freedom.

How Can God Entrust Great Things To One Who Will Not Thankfully Receive From Him The Little Things?

Christian Thanksgiving

Christianity Stands Or Falls With Its Revolutionary Protest Against Violence, Arbitrariness And Pride Of Power And With Its Plea For The Weak. Christians Are Doing Too Little To Make These Points Clear Rather Than Too Much. Christendom Adjusts Itself Far Too Easily To The Worship Of Power. Christians Should Give More Offense, Shock The World Far More, Than They Are Doing Now. Christian Should Take A Stronger Stand In Favor Of The Weak Rather Than Considering First The Possible Right Of The Strong.

There Is Nothing That Can Replace The Absence Of Someone Dear To Us, And One Should Not Even Attempt To Do So. One Must Simply Hold Out And Endure It. At First That Sounds Very Hard, But At The Same Time It Is Also A Great Comfort. For To The Extent The Emptiness Truly Remains Unfilled One Remains Connected To The Other Person Through It. It Is Wrong To Say That God Fills The Emptiness. God In No Way Fills It But Much More Leaves It Precisely Unfilled And Thus Helps Us Preserve -- Even In Pain -- The Authentic Relationship.

The Deceit, The Lie Of The Devil Consists Of This, That He Wishes To Make Man Believe That He Can Live Without God's Word. Thus He Dangles Before Man's Fantasy A Kingdom Of Faith, Of Power, And Of Peace, Into Which Only He Can Enter Who Consents To The Temptations; And Conceals From Men That He, As The Devil, Is The Most Unfortunate And Unhappy Of Beings, Since He Is Finally And Eternally Rejected By God.

The Essence Of Chastity Is Not The Suppression Of Lust, But The Total Orientation Of One's Life Towards A Goal. Without Such A Goal, Chastity Is Bound To Become Ridiculous. Chastity Is The Sine Qua Non Of Lucidity And Concentration.

If Religion Is Onlya Garment Of Christianityand Even This Garment Has Looked Very Different At Different Timesthen What Is Religionless Christianity?

Only The Believer Obeys — Obedience Follows Faith, The Way Good Fruit Comes From A Good Tree. Only The Obedient Believe.

The Preaching Of Grace Can Only Be Protected By The Preaching Of Repentance.

It Matters Little What Form Of Prayer We Adopt Or How Many Words We Use. What Matters Is The Faith Which Lays Hold On God, Knowing That He Knows Our Needs Before We Even Ask Him. That Is What Gives Christian Prayer Its Boundless Confidence And Its Joyous Certainty.

Only Those Who Obey Can Believe, And Only Those Who Believe Can Obey.

The Church Is Not A Religious Community Of Worshippers Of Christ But Is Christ Himself Who Has Taken Form Among People.

The Beginning Of Love For The Brethren Is Learning To Listen To Them.

Death Is Hell And Night And Cold, If It Is Not Transformed By Our Faith. But That Is Just What Is So Marvelous, That We Can Transform Death.

When You Read The Bible, You Must Think That Here And Now, God Is Speaking With Me

It Is A Blessed Thing To Know That No Power On Earth, No Temptation, No Human Frailty Can Dissolve What God Holds Together.

It Is Grace, Nothing But Grace, That We Are Allowed To Live In Community With Christian Brethren.

The Fact That We Do Not Speak It But Sing It Only Expresses The Fact That Our Spoken Words Are Inadequate To Express What We Want To Say, That The Burden Of Our Song Goes Far Beyond All Human Words.

Monastic Life Thus Became A Living Protest Against The Secularization Of Christianity, Against The Cheapening Of Grace.

There Is Meaning In Every Journey That Is Unknown To The Traveler.

Blessed Are They That Hunger And Thirst After Righteousness: For They Shall Be Filled. Not Only Do The Followers Of Jesus Renounce Their Rights, They Renounce Their Own Righteousness Too. They Get No Praise For Their Achievements Or Sacrifices. They Cannot Have Righteous– Ness Except By Hungering And Thirsting For It (this Applies Equally To Their Own Righteousness And To The Righteousness Of God On Earth ), Always They Look Forward To The Future Righteousness Of God, But They Cannot Establish It For Themselves. Those Who Follow Jesus Grow Hungry And Thirsty On The Way.

The Way To Misuse Our Possessions Is To Use Them As An Insurance Against The Morrow. Anxiety Is Always Directed To The Morrow, Whereas Goods Are In The Strictest Sense Meant To Be Used Only For To-day.

The Mark Of Solitude Is Silence, As Speech Is The Mark Of Community. Silence And Speech Have The Same Inner Correspondence And Difference As Do Solitude And Community. One Does Not Exist Without The Other. Right Speech Comes Out Of Silence, And Right Silence Comes Out Of Speech.

Do Not Try To Make The Bible Relevant. Its Relevance Is Axiomatic.

The First Service That One Owes To Others Consists In Listening To Them.

Christian Love Draws No Distinction Between One Enemy And Another, Except That The More Bitter Our Enemy's Hatred, The Greater His Need Of Love.

Costly Grace Is The Treasure Hidden In The Field; For The Sake Of It A Man Will Gladly Go And Sell All He Has. It Is The Pearl Of Great Price To By Which The Merchant Will Sell All His Goods.

The Exclusion Of The Weak And Insignificant, The Seemingly Useless People, From A Christian Community May Actually Mean The Exclusion Of Christ; In The Poor Brother Christ Is Knocking At The Door.

... There Are Not Two Realities, But Only One Reality, And That Is The Reality Of God, Which Has Become Manifest In The Christ Event/redemption And Creation.

When One Person Is Struck By The Word, He Speaks It To Others. God Has Willed That We Should Seek And Find His Living Word In The Witness Of A Brother, In The Mouth Of Man. Therefore, The Christian Needs Another Christian Who Speaks God’s Word To Him. The Christ In His Own Heart Is Weaker Than The Christ In The Word Of His Brother; His Own Heart Is Uncertain, His Brother’s Is Sure.

Who Stands Firm? Only The One For Whom The Final Standard Is Not His Reason, His Principles, His Conscience, His Freedom, His Virtue, But Who Is Ready To Sacrifice All These, When In Faith And Sole Allegiance To God He Is Called To Obedient And Responsible Action: The Responsible Person, Whose Life Will Be Nothing But An Answer To God's Question And Call.

Our Community With One Another Consists Solely In What Christ Has Done To Each Of Us.

In The Gospels The Very First Step A Man Must Take Is An Act Which Radically Affects His Whole Existence.

In Me There Is Darkness, But With You There Is Light; I Am Lonely, But You Do Not Leave Me; I Am Feeble In Heart, But With You There Is Help; I Am Restless, But With You There Is Peace. In Me There Is Bitterness, But With You There Is Patience; I Do Not Understand Your Ways, But You Know The Way For Me.” “lord Jesus Christ, You Were Poor And In Distress, A Captive And Forsaken As I Am. You Know All Man’s Troubles; You Abide With Me When All Men Fail Me; You Remember And Seek Me; It Is Your Will That I Should Know You And Turn To You. Lord, I Hear Your Call And Follow; Help Me.

The Psalter Is The Great School Of Prayer.

Desires Repeatedly Mastered For The Sake Of Present Duty Make Us Richer. Lack Of Desire Is Poverty.

The Only Man Who Has The Right To Say That He Is Justified By Grace Alone Is The Man Who Has Left All To Follow Christ. Such A Man Knows That The Call To Discipleship Is A Gift Of Grace, And That The Call Is Inseparable From The Grace. But Those Who Try To Use This Grace As A Dispensation From Following Christ Are Simply Deceiving Themselves.

Following Christ

In Jesus Christ We Have Been Chosen From Eternity, Accepted In Time, And United For Eternity.

We Are Torn Out Of Our Own Existence And Set Down In The Midst Of The Holy History Of God On Earth. There God Dealt With Us, And There He Still Deals With Us, Our Needs And Our Sins, In Judgment And Grace.

The Celebration Of Advent Is Possible Only To Those Who Are Troubled In Soul, Who Know Themselves To Be Poor And Imperfect, And Who Look Forward To Something Greater To Come.

Prayer Is The Supreme Instance Of The Hidden Character Of The Christian Life.

We Have Become So Accustomed To The Idea Of Divine Love And Of God's Coming At Christmas That We No Longer Feel The Shiver Of Fear That God's Coming Should Arouse In Us. We Are Indifferent To The Message, Taking Only The Pleasant And Agreeable Out Of It And Forgetting The Serious Aspect, That The God Of The World Draws Near To The People Of Our Little Earth And Lays Claim To Us. The Coming Of God Is Truly Not Only Glad Tidings, But First Of All Frightening News For Everyone Who Has A Conscience.

Jesus Himself Did Not Try To Convert The Two Thieves On The Cross; He Waited Until One Of Them Turned To Him.

It Is A Dangerous Error, Surely Very Widespread Among Christians, To Think That The Heart Can Pray By Itself.

He Who Fears The Face Of God Does Not Fear The Face Of Man. He Who Fears The Face Of Man Does Not Fear The Face Of God.

Christians Have Forgotten That The Ministry Of Listening Has Been Committed To Them By Him Who Is Himself The Great Listener And Whose Work They Should Share. We Should Listen With The Ears Of God That We May Speak The Word Of God.

No Sacrifice Which A Lover Would Make For His Beloved Is Too Great For Us To Make For Our Enemy.

Jesus Christ Has To Suffer And Be Rejected... Suffering And Being Rejected Are Not The Same.

Discipleship Never Consists In This Or That Specific Action: It Is Always A Decision, Either For Or Against Jesus Christ.

Christianity Means Community Through Jesus Christ And In Jesus Christ. No Christian Community Is More Or Less Than This.

Self-justification And Judging Others Go Together, As Justification By Grace And Serving Others Go Together.

Grace At A Low Cost, Is In The Last Resort Simply A New Law, Which Brings Neither Help Nor Freedom.

The Earthly Form Of Christ Is The Form That Died On The Cross. The Image Of God Is The Image Of Christ Crucified. It Is To This Image That The Life Of The Disciples Must Be Conformed; In Other Words, They Must Be Conformed To His Death (phil 3.10, Rom 6.4) The Christian Life Is A Life Of Crucifixion (gal 2.19) In Baptism The Form Of Christ's Death Is Impressed Upon His Own. They Are Dead To The Flesh And To Sin, They Are Dead To The World, And The World Is Dead To Them (gal 6.14). Anybody Living In The Strength Of Christ's Baptism Lives In The Strength Of Christ's Death.

God Has Reserved To Himself The Right To Determine The End Of Life, Because He Alone Knows The Goal To Which It Is His Will To Lead It. It Is For Him Alone To Justify A Life Or To Cast It Away.

Destruction Of The Embryo In The Mother's Womb Is A Violation Of The Right To Live Which God Has Bestowed Upon This Nascent Life.

To Endure The Cross Is Not Tragedy; It Is The Suffering Which Is The Fruit Of An Exclusive Allegiance To Jesus Christ.

When A Man Really Gives Up Trying To Make Something Out Of Himself - A Saint, Or A Converted Sinner, Or A Churchman (a So-called Clerical Somebody), A Righteous Or Unrighteous Man,...and Throws Himself Into The Arms Of God...then He Wakes With Christ In Gethsemane. That Is Faith, That Is Metanoia And It Is Thus That He Becomes A Man And Christian.

We Have Learnt, Rather Too Late, That Action Comes, Not From Thought, But From A Readiness For Responsibility.

My Past Life Is Abundantly Full Of God's Mercy, And, Above All Sin, Stands The Forgiving Love Of The Crucified.

Faith Without Works Is Not Faith At All, But A Simple Lack Of Obedience To God.

Obedience To God

Jesus' Call To Bear The Cross Places All Who Follow Him In The Community Of The Forgiveness Of Sins. Forgiving Sins Is The Christ-suffering Required Of His Disciples. It Is Required Of All Christians.

So Many People Come To Church With A Genuine Desire To Hear What We Have To Say, Yet They Are Always Going Back Home With The Uncomfortable Feeling That We Are Making It Too Difficult For Them To Come To Jesus.

Uncomfortable Feeling

If You Do A Good Job For Others, You Heal Yourself At The Same Time, Because A Dose Of Joy Is A Spiritual Cure.

A Home Is A Kingdom Of It's Own In The Midst Of The World, A Stronghold Amid Life's Storms And Stresses, A Refuge, Even A Sanctuary.

Cheap Grace Is Grace Without Discipleship, Grace Without The Cross, Grace Without Jesus Christ, Living And Incarnate.

No One Should Be Surprised At The Difficulty Of Faith, If There Is Some Part Of His Life Where He Is Consciously Resisting Or Disobeying The Commandment Of Jesus. Is There Some Part Of Your Life Which You Are Refusing To Surrender At His Behest, Some Sinful Passion, Maybe, Or Some Animosity, Some Hope, Perhaps Your Ambition Or Your Reason? ... How Can You Hope To Enter Into Communion With Him When At Some Point In Your Life You Are Running Away From Him?

And We Simply Cannot Be Constant With The Fact That God’s Cause Is Not Always The Successful One, That We Really Could Be “unsuccessful”; And Yet Be On The Right Road. But This Is Where We Find Out Whether We Have Begun In Faith Or In A Burst Of Enthusiasm.

Cheap Grace Is The Deadly Enemy Of Our Church. We Are Fighting Today For Costly Grace.

It Is Infinitely Easier To Suffer In Obedience To A Human Command Than To Accept Suffering As Free, Responsible Men.

In Normal Life We Hardly Realize How Much More We Receive Than We Give, And Life Cannot Be Rich Without Such Gratitude. It Is So Easy To Overestimate The Importance Of Our Own Achievements Compared With What We Owe To The Help Of Others.

On Sunday 8 April 1945, He Had Just Finished Conducting A Service Of Worship At Schoenberg, When Two Soldiers Came Took Him Away. As He Left, He Said To Another Prisoner, This Is The End - But For Me, The Beginning - Of Life. He Was Hanged The Next Day, Less Than A Week Before The Allies Reached The Camp.

The Wars Of Israel Were The Only 'holy Wars' In History... There Can Be No More Wars Of Faith. The Only Way To Overcome Our Enemy Is By Loving Him.

There Is No Kindness More Cruel Than The Kindness Which Consigns Another Person To Their Sin.

To Be Sure, God Shall Call You, And Us, Only At The Hour That God Has Chosen. Until That Hour, Which Lies In God's Hand Alone, We Shall Be Protected Even In The Greatest Danger; And From Our Gratitude For Such Protection Ever New Readiness Surely Arises For The Final Call

Just As Our Love For God Begins With Listening To God's Word, The Beginning Of Love For Other Christians Is Learning To Listen To Them.

Every Christian Community Must Realize That Not Only Do The Weak Need The Strong, But Also That The Strong Cannot Exist Without The Weak. The Elimination Of The Weak Is The Death Of Fellowship.

It Is Worse For A Liar To Tell The Truth Than For A Lover Of Truth To Lie.... There Is A Truth Which Is Of Satan. Its Essence Is That Under The Semblance Of Truth It Denies Everything That Is Real. It Lives Upon Hatred Of The Real World Which Is Created And Loved By God.

Man No Longer Lives In The Beginning--he Has Lost The Beginning. Now He Finds He Is In The Middle, Knowing Neither The End Nor The Beginning, And Yet Knowing That He Is In The Middle, Coming From The Beginning And Going Towards The End. He Sees That His Life Is Determined By These Two Facets, Of Which He Knows Only That He Does Not Know Them

In A World Where Success Is The Measure And Justification Of All Things The Figure Of Him Who Was Sentenced And Crucified Remains A Stranger And Is At Best The Object Of Pity. The World Will Allow Itself To Be Subdued Only By Success. It Is Not Ideas Or Opinions Which Decide, But Deeds. Success Alone Justifies Wrongs Done With A Frankness And Off-handedness Which No Other Earthly Power Could Permit Itself, History Appeals In Its Own Cause To The Dictum That The End Justifies The Means The Figure Of The Crucified Invalidates All Thought Which Takes Success For Its Standard.

Desires To Which We Cling Closely Can Easily Prevent Us From Being What We Ought To Be And Can Be; And On The Other Hand, Desires Repeatedly Mastered For The Sake Of Present Duty Make Us Richer.lack Of Desire Is Poverty.

The Best-informed Man Is Not Necessarily The Wisest. Indeed There Is A Danger That Precisely In The Multiplicity Of His Knowledge He Will Lose Sight Of What Is Essential.

There Is Not A Place To Which The Christian Can Withdraw From The World, Whether It Be Outwardly Or In The Sphere Of The Inner Life. Any Attempt To Escape From The World Must Sooner Or Later Be Paid For With A Sinful Surrender To The World.

Every Sermon Must Contain A Certain Shot Of Heresy.

Judgement Is The Forbidden Objectivization Of The Other Person Which Destroys Single-minded Love. I Am Not Forbidden To Have My Own Thoughts About The Other Person, To Realize His Shortcomings, But Only To The Extent That It Offers To Me An Occasion For Forgiveness And Unconditional Love, As Jesus Proves To Me.

Unconditional Love

Any Honours That Come Our Way Are Only Stolen From Him To Whom Alone They Really Belong, The Lord Who Sent Us.

Only What Is Essential Must Be Said.

I Saw Pastor Bonhoeffer, Before Taking Off His Prison Garb, Kneeling On The Floor Praying Fervently To His God. I Was Most Deeply Moved By The Way This Lovable Man Prayed, So Devout And So Certain That God Heard His Prayer. At The Place Of Execution, He Again Said A Prayer And Then Climbed The Steps To The Gallows, Brave And Composed. His Death Ensued In A Few Seconds. In The Almost 50 Years That I Have Worked As A Doctor, I Have Hardly Ever Seen A Man Die So Entirely Submissive To The Will Of God.

Where A People Prays, There Is The Church; And Where The Church Is; There Is Never Loneliness.

The Richness Of God’s Word Ought To Determine Our Prayer, Not The Poverty Of Our Heart.

If Our Christianity Has Ceased To Be Serious About Discipleship, If We Have Watered Down The Gospel Into Emotional Uplift Which Makes No Costly Demands And Which Fails To Distinguish Between Natural And Christian Existence, Then We Cannot Help Regarding The Cross As An Ordinary Everyday Calamity, As One Of The Trials And Tribulations Of Life. We Have Then Forgotten That The Cross Means Rejection And Shame As Well As Suffering .

Jesus Says That Every Christian Has His Own Cross Waiting For Him, A Cross Destined And Appointed By God. Each Must Endure His Allotted Share Of Suffering And Rejection. But Each Has A Different Share: Some God Deems Worthy Of The Highest Form Of Suffering, And Gives Them The Grace Of Martyrdom, While Others He Does Not Allow To Be Tempted Above That Which They Are Able To Bear. But It Is The One And The Same Cross In Every Case.

If Christ Has Been Given Us, If We Are Called To His Discipleship We Are Given All Things, Literally _all_ Things. He Will See To It That They Are Added Unto Us. If We Follow Jesus And Look Only To His Righteousness, We Are In His Hands And Under The Protection Of Him And His Father. And If We Are In Communion With The Father, Nought Can Harm Us. God Will Help Us In The Hour Of Need, And He Knows Our Needs.

Jesus Calls Men, Not To A New Religion, But To Life.

The Entire Day Receives Order And Discipline When It Acquires Unity. This Unity Must Be Sought And Found In Morning Prayer. The Morning Prayer Determines The Day.

Time Lost Is Time Not Filled, Time Left Empty.

Human Love Has Little Regard For The Truth. It Makes The Truth Relative, Since Nothing, Not Even The Truth, Must Come Between It And The Beloved Person.

The Child Asks Of The Father Whom He Knows. Thus, The Essence Of Christian Prayer Is Not General Adoration, But Definite, Concrete Petition. The Right Way To Approach God Is To Stretch Out Our Hands And Ask Of One Who We Know Has The Heart Of A Father.

There Is No Way To Peace Along The Way To Safety. For Peace Must Be Dared. It Is The Great Venture.

It Is Much Easier For Me To Imagine A Praying Murderer, A Praying Prostitute, Than A Vain Person Praying. Nothing Is So At Odds With Prayer As Vanity.

The Cross Is God's Truth About Us, And Therefore It Is The Only Power Thatcanmakeustruthful.whenwe Know The Cross We Are No Longer Afraid Of The Truth.

We Must Be Ready To Allow Ourselves To Be Interrupted By God, Who Will Thwart Our Plans And Frustrate Our Ways Time And Again, Even Daily, By Sending People Across Our Path With Their Demands And Requests. We Can, Then, Pass Them By, Preoccupied With Our Important Daily Tasks, Just As The Priest-perhaps Reading The Bible-passed By The Man Who Had Fallen Among Robbers. When We Do That, We Pass By The Visible Sign Of The Cross Raised In Our Lives To Show Us That God’s Way, And Not Our Own, Is What Counts.

A Righteous Person Is One Who Lives For The Next Generation.

Nothing Is So At Odds With Prayer As Vanity.

Love Asks Nothing In Return, But Seeks Those Who Need It. And Who Needs Our Love More Than Those Who Are Consumed With Hatred And Are Utterly Devoid Of Love.

One Act Of Obedience Is Better Than One Hundred Sermons.

Christian Inspirational

What We Shall Need Is Not Geniuses, Or Cynics, Or Misanthropes, Or Clever Tacticians, But Plain, Honest, Straghtforward Men.

Christian Brotherhood Is Not An Ideal Which We Must Realize; It Is Rather A Reality Created By God In Christ In Which We May Participate.

But They All Stood Beneath The Cross, Enemies And Believers, Doubters And Cowards, Revilers And Devoted Followers. His Prayer, In That Hour, And His Forgiveness, Was Meant For Them All, And For All Their Sins. The Mercy And Love Of God Are At Work Even In The Midst Of His Enemies. It Is The Same Jesus Christ, Who Of His Grace Calls Us To Follow Him, And Whose Grace Saves The Murderer Who Mocks Him On The Cross In His Last Hour.

Time Is The Most Precious Gift In Our Possession, For It Is The Most Irrevocable. This Is What Makes It So Disturbing To Look Back Upon The Time Which We Have Lost. Time Lost Is Time When We Have Not Lived A Full Human Life, Time Unenriched By Experience, Creative Endeavor, Enjoyment, And Suffering. Time Lost Is Time Not Filled, Time Left Empty.

The World Exercises Dominion By Force And Christ And Christians Conquer By Service.

Not Hero Worship, But Intimacy With Christ.

There Is No Worse Sin Than Unbelief Toward The Gospel.

Wherever There Are Sinners, The Weak, The Sorrowful, The Poor In The World, That Is Where God Goes.

Cheap Grace Is The Grace We Bestow On Ourselves. Cheap Grace Is The Preaching Of Forgiveness Without Requiring Repentance, Baptism Without Church Discipline, Communion Without Confession.... Cheap Grace Is Grace Without Discipleship, Grace Without The Cross, Grace Without Jesus Christ, Living And Incarnate.

Human Love Is Directed To The Other Person For His Own Sake, Spiritual Love Loves Him For Christ's Sake. Therefore, Human Love Seeks Direct Contact With The Other Person; It Loves Him Not As A Free Person But As One Whom It Binds To Itself.

The Christian Life Is Participation In The Encounter Of Christ With The World.

God Can Make A New Beginning With People Whenever God Pleases, But Not People With God. Therefore, People Cannot Make A New Beginning At All; They Can Only Pray For One. Where People Are On Their Own And Live By Their Own Devices, There Is Only The Old, The Past.

May God In His Mercy Lead Us Through These Times; But Above All, May He Lead Us To Himself.

Once A Man Has Truly Experienced The Mercy Of God In His Life He Will Henceforth Aspire Only To Serve.

Silence In The Face Of Evil Is Evil Itself.

There Is A Wrong Way Of Staying In The World And A Wrong Way Of Fleeing From It. In Both Cases We Are Fashioning Ourselves According To The World.

Love, In The Sense Of Spontaneous, Unreflective Action, Spells The Death Of The Old Man.

Anyone Who Thinks That His Time Is Too Valuable To Spend Keeping Quiet Will Eventually Have No Time For God And His Brother, But Only For Himself And For His Own Follies.

The Will Of God, To Which The Law Gives Expression, Is That Men Should Defeat Their Enemies By Loving Them.

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