Thursday, July 11, 2002
The Cost of Discipleship
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
This was a tough read. Not that the translation from the German was obtuse. No, what Herr Bonhoeffer had to say was quite clear. The difficulty arose from my conscience when Bonhoeffer talked about what is and isn't following Jesus. Like many, I like to think that since I trust Jesus to forgive my sins, the sins I do commit really don't matter. That just isn't so. As the book points out, when I sin, I stop following Jesus. That, friends, was a scary concept. I was resting comfortably on my salvation and to have that pulled out from under me was very troubling. So much so that the first time I attempted to read this tome I ended up putting it aside. This year I attempted it again and was able to handle it better. It's not that I'm less of a sinner now, but rather that confronting the harsh reality of the law forced me to take a look at God's grace. I realize that the forgiveness that Jesus offers is for the unfaithful disciple as well as for those who don't know better. Which is not to excuse my failures and rebellions. I certainly deserve to rot in hell for all eternity. I'm grateful that I don't have to, that my eternal life depends on God's mercy rather than my obedience. This is a book written for Christians, so if you believe that God is willing to forgive you for Jesus' sake, then go ahead and read this book. I'm putting it on my shelf, where it's ready to be read again. If you don't believe, go read the Bible instead.
LibraryThing link
This was a tough read. Not that the translation from the German was obtuse. No, what Herr Bonhoeffer had to say was quite clear. The difficulty arose from my conscience when Bonhoeffer talked about what is and isn't following Jesus. Like many, I like to think that since I trust Jesus to forgive my sins, the sins I do commit really don't matter. That just isn't so. As the book points out, when I sin, I stop following Jesus. That, friends, was a scary concept. I was resting comfortably on my salvation and to have that pulled out from under me was very troubling. So much so that the first time I attempted to read this tome I ended up putting it aside. This year I attempted it again and was able to handle it better. It's not that I'm less of a sinner now, but rather that confronting the harsh reality of the law forced me to take a look at God's grace. I realize that the forgiveness that Jesus offers is for the unfaithful disciple as well as for those who don't know better. Which is not to excuse my failures and rebellions. I certainly deserve to rot in hell for all eternity. I'm grateful that I don't have to, that my eternal life depends on God's mercy rather than my obedience. This is a book written for Christians, so if you believe that God is willing to forgive you for Jesus' sake, then go ahead and read this book. I'm putting it on my shelf, where it's ready to be read again. If you don't believe, go read the Bible instead.
LibraryThing link
Labels: DietrichBonhoeffer, OnMyShelf
// posted by John @ 9:58 AM 
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