Bonhoeffer

I finally finished Bonhoeffer.  Yes, it took me about 2 months...maybe 3.  Not because it isn't interesting, but merely because my attention span is short, I'm reading at least 50 other books at the same time to my children, and I just don't have a lot of time to leisurely read books...though, I still determine to read..even if at a slow pace.

Anyway, a great book.  Eric Metaxas (the author) has written our favorite Thanksgiving book: Squanto & The Miracle of Thanksgiving.  So, I was already acquainted with him.  While reading this story of the life of a truly heroic German Christian during one of the very worst times in history, our beloved Chuck Colson has passed on. Chuck Colson, Break Point radio ministry founder, a faithful servant to prison ministry, a redeemed man himself having had his hands dirtied by the Nixon Watergate scandal has passed on in these last few days.  Not coincidentally, Eric Metaxas is replacing the voice of Chuck Colson on his radio ministry, Breakpoint.  Eric Metaxas is knowledgable, wise, and righteously speaking forth truth to all who will hear it.  I have even seen Eric on Real News from The Blaze on GBTV.

I encourage you to read this story for the benefit of educating yourself on another angle of Hitler's Germany and World War II; for the benefit of the exhortation to deepen your own commitment to Christ; and to expand your mind to unconventional ideas that just don't make their way naturally to the typical human brain.  I sure am glad God creates the Dietrich Bonhoeffer's of the world to challenge the rest of us pea-brained Christians.  ;)

I will leave you to chew on this:

"To delay or fail to make decisions may be more sinful than to make wrong decisions out of faith and love..." (p.218-219) 

He seemed to want to warn everyone to wake up and stop playing church. (p.122) 

Bonhoeffer talked about how the German penchant for self-sacrifice and submission to authority had been used for evil ends by the Nazis; only a deep understanding of and commitment to the God of the Bible could stand up to such wickedness. "It depends on a God who demands responsible action in a bold venture of faith, he wrote, "and who promises forgiveness and consolation to the man who becomes a sinner in that venture."  Here was the rub: one must be more zealous to please God than to avoid sin.  One must sacrifice oneself utterly to God's purposes, even to the point of possibly making moral mistakes.  One's obedience to God must be forward-oriented and zealous and free, and to be a mere moralist or pietist would make such a life impossible. (p. 446-447)

Be zealous for a good thing always. (Gal. 4:18)