Bonhoeffer: the sufferings of God

Monday, August 1, 2016
Meditation:
    I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
    —John 17:15-18 (KJV)
Quotation:
    During the last year or so, I have come to appreciate the “worldliness” of Christianity as never before. The Christian is not a homo religiosus but a man, pure and simple, just as Jesus was man... It is only by living completely in this world that one learns to believe. One must abandon every attempt to make something of oneself, whether it be a saint, a converted sinner, a churchman, a righteous man, or an unrighteous one, a sick man or a healthy one. This is what I mean by worldliness—taking life in one’s stride, with all its duties and problems, its successes and failures, its experiences and helplessness... How can success make us arrogant or failure lead us astray, when we participate in the sufferings of God by living in this world?
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Letters and Papers from Prison, London: Macmillan, 1962, p. 226-227 (see the book)
    See also John 17:15-18; Matt. 6:1-7; Rom. 8:17; 2 Cor. 4:10; Col. 1:24; 1 Pet. 4:13-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me strength to continue faithfully in the world. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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