Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The Unmistakable Call
Tweet
One of the first theological books that really struck me was Bonhoeffer's "Cost of Discipleship." I was looking back through it this morning, preparing to talk with my freshmen about simplicity and the story of the rich young man. Several quotes stood out to me:
"Here is the sum of the commandments - to live in fellowship with Christ. This Christ now confronts the young man with his call. He can no longer escape into the unreal world of his moral difficulties. The commandment is plain and straightforward: 'Follow me.'"
"We must not do violence to the Scriptures by interpreting them in terms of abstract principle, even if that principle be a doctrine of grace. Otherwise we shall end up in legalism."
I am certainly guilty of over-analyzing, and often I feel that I know what I should do (or what God is calling me to do), but I think about what might be the consequences, the implications, etc. And so I stay within my easy, typical and "safe" routines.
"The elimination of single-minded obedience on principle is but another instance of the perversion of the costly grace of the call of Jesus into the cheap grace of self-justification. By this means a false law is set up which deafens men to the concrete call of Christ. This false law is the law of the world, of which the law of grace is at once the complement and the antithesis."
I understand Bonhoeffer to be talking about the Christian mentality that says, "I trust in God to take care of it, so I won't do anything." Or, "It seems pretty clear what God is saying here, but that would mean I would have to change my whole life, and that doesn't make sense. God wouldn't ask me to do that." It is reminding me a lot of our discussion with the cohort this past week regarding some words from Dr. Brueggeman. One phrase specifically he said was that we need a "raw, dramatic transaction" with Scripture, "not cleaned up or protected by our critical thought." The reality is that when we think we are being faithful to Scripture, we are actually putting layers and layers of our rationalizations over top of the in-breaking truth.
So I'm returning again to my question, "How do I more faithfully live what I believe to be true?"
"Here is the sum of the commandments - to live in fellowship with Christ. This Christ now confronts the young man with his call. He can no longer escape into the unreal world of his moral difficulties. The commandment is plain and straightforward: 'Follow me.'"
"We must not do violence to the Scriptures by interpreting them in terms of abstract principle, even if that principle be a doctrine of grace. Otherwise we shall end up in legalism."
I am certainly guilty of over-analyzing, and often I feel that I know what I should do (or what God is calling me to do), but I think about what might be the consequences, the implications, etc. And so I stay within my easy, typical and "safe" routines.
"The elimination of single-minded obedience on principle is but another instance of the perversion of the costly grace of the call of Jesus into the cheap grace of self-justification. By this means a false law is set up which deafens men to the concrete call of Christ. This false law is the law of the world, of which the law of grace is at once the complement and the antithesis."
I understand Bonhoeffer to be talking about the Christian mentality that says, "I trust in God to take care of it, so I won't do anything." Or, "It seems pretty clear what God is saying here, but that would mean I would have to change my whole life, and that doesn't make sense. God wouldn't ask me to do that." It is reminding me a lot of our discussion with the cohort this past week regarding some words from Dr. Brueggeman. One phrase specifically he said was that we need a "raw, dramatic transaction" with Scripture, "not cleaned up or protected by our critical thought." The reality is that when we think we are being faithful to Scripture, we are actually putting layers and layers of our rationalizations over top of the in-breaking truth.
So I'm returning again to my question, "How do I more faithfully live what I believe to be true?"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment