Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a shining example to me of a man who
was crucified to this world and the world was crucified to him (Galatians 6:14). In his book, The
Crucified Life, AW Tozer says this:
Years before Bonhoeffer wrote, “When God calls a man, He bids him come and die.” On April 9, 1945at the concentration camp Bonhoeffer was called on to do just that. He refused to allow himself to be rescued, lest he endanger certain others, so, “he went steadfastly on his way to be hanged, and died with admirable calmness and dignity.”
Too many people in WWII Germany and too many people today are consumed with pursuing intellectualism, pride, success, money, lust, and other lethal worldly pursuits. God Sent Bonhoeffer as a seeing man to warn a blind nation. I wonder if He is not asking some of us to, “Come and die, so that I might be revealed to a rebellious and stiff-necked people.”
In
my mind, one man epitomizes what one must pay, or give up, for the crucified
life. That man was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who lived under the shadow of the mad
nihilist Adolf Hitler.
As
war clouds formed over Europe, Bonhoeffer left Germany and carried out his work
in England. It was not long before his Christian conscience would not allow him
to be in a place of safety when his country was experiencing turmoil…
After
returning to Germany…he was soon arrested by the infamous Gestapo and clapped
into jail…During this time he served his fellow prisoners…He was, fellow prisoners
said, “a giant before men…but a child before God.”
Bonhoeffer
was…a man of remarkable spiritual insight…He said, “…the grace of God would
cost us everything we have…maybe even our lives.”
The
Nazi’s pulled the old totalitarian trick: “You better buckle down and shut up,
because we’ve got your family as hostages. And if you don’t do what we ask you…
we will kill your family.”
These
sorts of threats usually worked, but the Nazi’s had never come up against a man
like Dietrich Bonhoeffer. With a calmness and serenity only Christ can give, he
replied, “My family belongs to God, and you’ll never get me to surrender by
threatening tkill my family.”
Years before Bonhoeffer wrote, “When God calls a man, He bids him come and die.” On April 9, 1945at the concentration camp Bonhoeffer was called on to do just that. He refused to allow himself to be rescued, lest he endanger certain others, so, “he went steadfastly on his way to be hanged, and died with admirable calmness and dignity.”
Too many people in WWII Germany and too many people today are consumed with pursuing intellectualism, pride, success, money, lust, and other lethal worldly pursuits. God Sent Bonhoeffer as a seeing man to warn a blind nation. I wonder if He is not asking some of us to, “Come and die, so that I might be revealed to a rebellious and stiff-necked people.”
If we don’t fight for costly grace who will?
2 comments:
The testimony of this man is challenging and encouraging... life like that is a pearl in God's hand...
All I know is I want that kind of intimate fellowship with My Maker. If these men could die to self so can we. We have the same Holy Spirit, the same Living Word of God, the hosts of heaven fighting for us, and an amazing crowd of witnesses surrounding us ~ like these men.
Its time we stop making excuses....Its time to be RADICAL for Jesus...this vapor of a life will soon pass away and I don't want to waste anymore of it.
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