Today is the anniversary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s death. I would like to believe that everyone knows who he was, but that might not be the case. Bonhoeffer was a German pastor, theologian, and was strongly apposed to the Nazi dictatorship of German. His writings have been very influential in many Christian circle’s, but my favorite would have to be his, “The Cost of Discipleship”. Because he was verbally apposed to the Nazi’s, he was arrested in April 1943 and executed April 9th, 1945 just 23 days before German would surrender. His courage and unwavering faith in God was an example to all Christian’s, and in my mind makes him a hero of the faith. But here is the thing, Bonhoeffer was only 39 when he died. He was so young, and I can only imagine the wisdom that could have been gleaned from him had he lived longer. But this encourages me and challenges me because, like Timothy from scripture, even though I may be young it does not mean that I can’t accomplish amazing things for Christ and His glory. In fact it tells me that no matter what age we are we can accomplish great things for Christ if we allow Him to work through us.
Today I am reminded that no matter what age we are we can have a profound impact on our society and in our friends and families lives. I pray that age never holds us back from serving God. Whether you are young or old, if we allow Christ to work through us, there is nothing we cannot accomplish for Him. Here are some of my favorite quotes from Bonhoeffer:
“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.”
“Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.”
“Being a Christan is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God’s will.”
“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”