The Cost of Discipleship

After reading about Dietrich Bonhoeffer for a long time I finally decided to read The Cost of Discipleship for myself. I noticed that several emerging churches and the Northumbria Community cite his book as inspiration. I thought for my own benefit I would share some of my reflections.

The birth pains of change in the Church are worth the cost if the end result is "a richer understanding of the Scriptures" and "a more determined quest for Him who is the sole object of it all." Bonhoeffer talks about the difficulty people have in making a "genuine decision for Christ" because the Message is "overlaid with so much human ballast - burdensome rules and regulations, false hopes and consolations... so overburdened with ideas and expressions which are hopelessly out of touch with the mental climate in which they live." His words are so relevant that it is hard to believe that this book was written in 1937.

Bonhoeffer might as well be addressing modern-day fundamentalists when he describes the "Church's concern to erect a spiritual tyranny over men, by dictating to them what must be believed and performed in order to be saved, and by presuming to enforce that belief and behaviour with the sanctions of temporal and eternal punishment." He challenges us to cast off these man-made burdens and to receive the yoke of Christ which is easy.

I for one have often found myself struggling to live for Christ. Frankly, it's not easy. It's tough, but Bonhoeffer says one of the reasons we have found it so difficult is because of the weight of all the religious garbage that we have inherited, albeit unknowingly, "Only the man who follows the command of Jesus single-mindedly, and unrestingly lets his yoke rest upon him, finds his burden easy, and under its gentle pressure receives the power to persevere in the right way. The command of Jesus is hard, unutterably hard, for those who try to resist it. But for those who willingly submit, the yoke is easy, and the burden is light." I think we still are trying to earn His love, rather than submit and receive it freely, so we resist Him and choose misery over joy. Bonhoeffer pleads with us, "may we be enabled to say 'No' to sin and 'Yes' to the sinner." Perhaps that sinner is ourself.