Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote an excellent book entitled, The Cost Of Discipleship.
In it, he explains the importance of our obedience so well. Mr. Bonhoeffer makes the following
statement, “The idea
of a situation in which faith is possible is only a way of stating
the facts of a case in which the following two propositions hold good
and are equally true: only
he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes.”
He
goes on to give an illustration: “We
must take a definite step.....we
can only take this step aright if we fix our eyes not on the work we
do, but on the word with which Jesus calls us to do it.
Peter knows he dare not climb out of the ship in his own strength-his
very first step would be his undoing. And so he cries, “Lord, bid
me come to thee upon the waters,” and Jesus answers: “Come.”
Christ must first call him, for the step can only be taken at his
word. This call is his grace, which calls him out of death into the
new life of obedience. But when once Christ has called him, Peter has
no alternative- he must leave the ship and come to him. In
the end, the first step of obedience proves to be an act of faith in
the word of Christ.
But
we
should completely misunderstand the nature of grace if we were to
suppose that there was no need to take that first step, because faith
was already there. Against that we must boldly assert that the step
of obedience must be taken before faith can be possible. Unless he
obeys, a man cannot believe.”
I was reminded once again of
how I had (unknowingly) been in unbelief. I had lived my life as a
'professing Christian' for many years, (from the time I was 12 years
old) yet, even as an adult, continued to experience such a bondage to
sin within my heart that I was never content. Realizing something was
very wrong with my life, I felt helpless to correct my situation.
Even though I believed myself to be a Christian, I knew my life was
not what it should be. It was not until I understood my dilemma
through listening to good balanced sermons online, repented of my
sin, (and determined to take those steps of obedience in the areas I
recognized that I was living contrary to God's word in)- that I could truly
experience the 'gift of faith' God had blessed me with, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast"(Ephesians
2:8-9).
Going
on here, Mr. Bonhoeffer asks the following question: “Are
you worried because you find it so hard to believe? No one should be
surprised at the difficulty of faith, if there is some part of his
life where he is consciously resisting or disobeying the commandment
of Jesus. Is
there some part of your life which you are refusing to surrender at
his behest, some sinful passion, maybe, or some animosity, some hope,
perhaps your ambition or your reason? If so, you must not be
surprised that you have not received the Holy Spirit, that prayer is
difficult, or that your request for faith remains unanswered. Go
rather and be reconciled with your brother, renounce the sin which
holds you fast- and then you will recover your faith! If
you dismiss the word of God's command, you will not receive his word
of grace.
How can you hope to enter into communion with him when at some point
in your life you are running away from him? The
man who disobeys cannot believe, for only he who obeys can believe.”
“..faith
by itself, if it does not have works, is dead; For as the body apart
from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead,”
(James 2:17, 26).
"For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified" (Romans 2:13). May we be doers of God's word and not merely those who hear and believe.
“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it” (Luke 11:28). Obedience is essential to belief, “Whoever
believes in the Son has eternal life, whoever does not obey the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him,” (John
3:36).
No comments:
Post a Comment