It is not necessary that we should discover new ideas in our meditation. It is sufficient, and far more important, if the Word, as we read and understand it, penetrates and dwells within us.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer –
from Life Together
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
We receive more than we give – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer –
Making unbelievers question their unbelief – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Your life as a Christian should make non-believers question their disbelief in God.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer –
Christianity without Christ – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer –
Proven in Character – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
A Christian life proves itself not in words, but character. No one is a Christian without character.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer –
With Thanksgiving, Life Becomes Rich – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer –
Obedience – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer –
Give Thanks – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Anything I cannot thank God for the sake of Christ, I may not thank God for at all; to do so would be sin. … We cannot rightly acknowledge the gifts of God unless we acknowledge the Mediator for whose sake alone they are given to us.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer –
Cheap and Costly Grace – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the Cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must the asked for, the door at which a man must knock.
Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: ye were bought at a price, and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer –
from The Cost of Discipleship