Tag Archives: Christian life

I Want to Obey…

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“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. ” (1 John 5:2)

I want to obey, but…

Have you ever found yourself making excuses for not following Jesus’ words?  Have you ever said to yourself, “I would like to obey Him… I wish I could have a stronger faith… I wish I had more joy and peace in my life… I wish…”?  I have often found myself wondering, “why can’t I be a more loving person, or a happier person?”  I know that Jesus promised that those who would follow after Him would know peace and joy and abiding hope.  So why do I struggle so?

We could all come up with excuses for not knowing the life that Jesus calls us to.  We are very busy, overworked, overscheduled, overplayed.  We may not know enough about His word and will, or maybe we know too much, and we are left wondering what to do.

In The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer addresses this chasm we face between believing in God and living like we believe in Him.  If we know what we believe, but we struggle with being obedient to His word, with being more loving, more faithful, filled with a servant’s heart, the solution is simple: “You are disobedient, you are trying to keep some part of your life under your own control.  That is what is preventing you from listening to Christ and believing in his grace.  You cannot hear Christ because you are willfully disobedient.  Somewhere in your heart you are refusing to listen to his call.  You difficulty is your sins… Only those who obey can believe, and only those who believe can obey.  In the name of Christ… obey, take action, take the first step.  Tear yourself away from all other attachments, and follow him.”

If you want to know Him, take up His word and read.  If you want to follow Him, obey.  If you want to be more loving, then start by loving those around you with the love He has shown you.  If you want more joy and peace in your life, then be filled with His joy and the peace that comes from His grace.  “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will fulfill the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).  Or as the old Hymn says, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.” 

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. ” (1 John 5:2)

I want to obey, but…

Have you ever found yourself making excuses for not following Jesus’ words?  Have you ever said to yourself, “I would like to obey Him… I wish I could have a stronger faith… I wish I had more joy and peace in my life… I wish…”?  I have often found myself wondering, “why can’t I be a more loving person, or a happier person?”  I know that Jesus promised that those who would follow after Him would know peace and joy and abiding hope.  So why do I struggle so?

We could all come up with excuses for not knowing the life that Jesus calls us to.  We are very busy, overworked, overscheduled, overplayed.  We may not know enough about His word and will, or maybe we know too much, and we are left wondering what to do.

In The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer addresses this chasm we face between believing in God and living like we believe in Him.  If we know what we believe, but we struggle with being obedient to His word, with being more loving, more faithful, filled with a servant’s heart, the solution is simple: “You are disobedient, you are trying to keep some part of your life under your own control.  That is what is preventing you from listening to Christ and believing in his grace.  You cannot hear Christ because you are willfully disobedient.  Somewhere in your heart you are refusing to listen to his call.  You difficulty is your sins… Only those who obey can believe, and only those who believe can obey.  In the name of Christ… obey, take action, take the first step.  Tear yourself away from all other attachments, and follow him.”

If you want to know Him, take up His word and read.  If you want to follow Him, obey.  If you want to be more loving, then start by loving those around you with the love He has shown you.  If you want more joy and peace in your life, then be filled with His joy and the peace that comes from His grace.  “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will fulfill the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).  Or as the old Hymn says, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.”

SDG

The Coming of Jesus into Our Midst

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This is the second week of Advent: a time to prepare ourselves for the Return of the King.  Are you ready?  A couple of years ago I came across this letter by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Enjoy!

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20

When early Christianity spoke of the return of the Lord Jesus, they thought of a great day of judgment. Even though this thought may appear to us to be so unlike Christmas, it is original Christianity and to be taken extremely seriously. When we hear Jesus knocking, our conscience first of all pricks us: Are we rightly prepared? Is our heart capable of becoming God’s dwelling place? Thus Advent becomes a time of self-examination. “Put the desires of your heart in order, O human beings!” (Valentin Thilo), as the old song sings.

“Our whole life is an Advent, a time of waiting for the ultimate, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, when all people will be brothers and sisters.”

It is very remarkable that we face the thought that God is coming so calmly, whereas previously peoples trembled at the day of God, whereas the world fell into trembling when Jesus Christ walked over the earth. That is why we find it so strange when we see the marks of God in the world so often together with the marks of human suffering, with the marks of the cross on Golgotha.

We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings, but first of all frightening news for everyone who has a conscience.

Only when we have felt the terror of the matter, can we recognize the incomparable kindness. God comes into the very midst of evil and of death, and judges the evil in us and in the world. And by judging us, God cleanses and sanctifies us, comes to us with grace and love. God makes us happy as only children can be happy.

God wants to always be with us, wherever we may be – in our sin, in our suffering and death. We are no longer alone; God is with us. We are no longer homeless; a bit of the eternal home itself has moved unto us. Therefore we adults can rejoice deeply within our hearts under the Christmas tree, perhaps much more than the children are able. We know that God’s goodness will once again draw near. We think of all of God’s goodness that came our way last year and sense something of this marvelous home. Jesus comes in judgment and grace: “Behold I stand at the door!  Open wide the gates!” (Ps. 24:7)?

One day, at the last judgment, he will separate the sheep and the goats and will say to those on his right: “Come, you blessed?  I was hungry and you fed me?” (Matt. 25:34).  To the astonished question of when and where, he answered: “What you did to the least of these, you have done to me?” (Matt. 25:40).

With that we are faced with the shocking reality: Jesus stands at the door and knocks, in complete reality.  He asks you for help in the form of a beggar, in the form of a ruined human being in torn clothing.  He confronts you in every person that you meet.  Christ walks on the earth as your neighbor as long as there are people.  He walks on the earth as the one through whom God calls you, speaks to you and makes his demands.  That is the greatest seriousness and the greatest blessedness of the Advent message.  Christ stands at the door.  He lives in the form of the person in our midst.  Will you keep the door locked or open it to him?

Christ is still knocking.  It is not yet Christmas.  But it is also not the great final Advent, the final coming of Christ.  Through all the Advents of our life that we celebrate goes the longing for the final Advent, where it says: “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5).

Advent is a time of waiting.  Our whole life, however, is Advent – that is, a time of waiting for the ultimate, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, when all people are brothers and sisters and one rejoices in the words of the angels: “On earth peace to those on whom God’s favor rests.”  Learn to wait, because he has promised to come.  “I stand at the door?”  We however call to him: “Yes, come soon, Lord Jesus!”  Amen.

(Reprinted from Watch for the Light)

SDG