February 4–Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s birthday is today.  Bonhoeffer, dissident German pastor, prophet, WWII spy and radical disciple of Jesus Christ set my heart on fire through his writings—so much so, that his book and faith inspired the antidote to Hitler’s pursuit of a “Master Race” in my new book, Saving Amelie.  Martyred in 1945 near the end of WWII, Bonhoeffer’s words ring as true today as they did 69 years ago.

The Cost of Discipleship, Ethics, Life Together, Letters and Papers from Prison, and other works are worth the time and effort to absorb. Bonhoeffer’s central theme is unmistakable: once we give our lives to Christ and enlist as disciples in His church, we’re called to active and costly grace—grace that may cost our lives to follow Him, to lay it down for others, as He did.

Forms and rituals and the “cheap grace” of simply being church members without standing strong and doing is not in keeping with Jesus’ call to “go into the world.”  Bonhoeffer maintained that as Christians we are not to withdraw permanently from the world, but to live fully in it, to actually live as Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount teaches.  The church is not to expect people to come to it, we are to go out to meet them, to share what we have so freely, abundantly received, and that it is our obligation to help those in harm’s way. His convictions sound so normal—so typically “Christian,” but to truly obey the commands of Jesus under Nazi rule was radical, life-changing, life- threatening.

While reading Bonhoeffer, my daily devotional study echoed his words, reminding me of the several people who wanted to follow Jesus, but had trouble pulling away from the comfort of their lives and the things that bound them—the reality that in following Christ they would have no place to call home, that they couldn’t “wait” until their family died and was buried, that they needed to give up riches and sell possessions and go.  Jesus’ call is to obedience, to come as we are, to come now, to trust Him.  It’s a call to become radical disciples—learners in mission—hearing and doing.

So, I’ve asked myself this question:  What holds me back?  What binds me, keeps me from answering Jesus’ call in its fullness, from living as radically as He taught?  What binds you?

During the next few months I’ll share gems from Bonhoeffer’s writing on Facebook — gems that have lifted my heart and challenged my thinking.  I hope you’ll join me for them and share what they mean to you.

God’s blessings,