Bonhoeffer: evaluating one's meditation

Monday, April 9, 2018
    Feast of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Teacher, Martyr, 1945
Meditation:
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand.
    When I awake, I am still with you.
    —Psalm 139:17-18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Furthermore, [the unchristian environment] is the place where we find out whether the Christian’s meditation has led him into the unreal, from which he awakens in terror when he returns to the workaday world, or whether it has led him into a real contact with God, from which he emerges strengthened and purified. Has it transported him for a moment into a spiritual ecstasy that vanishes when everyday life returns, or has it lodged the Word of God so securely and deeply in his heart that it holds and fortifies him, impelling him to active love, to obedience, to good works? Only the day can decide.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together [1954], tr. Daniel W. Bloesch & James H. Burtness, Fortress Press, 2004, p. 92 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 139:17-18; 1:2; 104:34; 119:11; Isa. 55:8-9; 1 Tim. 4:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Remain within me, Lord, throughout the day. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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