Lyle Thought He Had It Rough . . . Until Bonhoeffer

Earlier today I listened to my friend Chris Seay’s sermon from this past Sunday. I admit, I do not listen to many. Maybe I should. Seay quoted Miroslav Volf who questioned how well someone in the West, think Western Europe and America, “gets” suffering and its cause radical evil. Our thoughts of justice somehow seem a bit pale when considering life in Croatia according to Seay’s telling of Volf’s story.

Some want to dismiss perspective for fear it marginalizes real fear and human struggles. However, we cannot keep from recognizing there are degrees of human suffering. My hunger between meals could hardly compare to hunger in the hovels of South Africa I visited years ago.

Lyle’s wrote, I Thought I had it rough after reading an excerpt from Bonhoeffer‘s Discipleship and the Cross.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 23, 2005

 

I thought I had it rough

An excerpt fromĀ Discipleship and the Cross by Bonhoffer

Those who are not prepared to take up the cross, those who are not prepared to give their life to suffering and rejection by others, lose community with Christ, and are not disciples. Discipleship is commitment to the suffering Christ.

Whether we really have found God’s peace will be shown by how we deal with the sufferings that will come upon us. There are many Christians who do, indeed, kneel before the cross of Jesus Christ, and yet reject and struggle against every tribulation in their own lives. They believe they love the cross of Christ, and yet they hate that cross in their own lives. And so in truth they hate the cross of Jesus Christ as well, and in truth despise that cross and try by any means possible to escape it. – Dietrich Bonhoffer

When it is put that way I find myself seriously lacking in the commitment category.

POSTED BY LYLE ATĀ 9:58 AM 0 SPEAKING UP

 

About the Author
Husband to Patty. Daddy to Kimberly and Tommie. Grandpa Doc to Cohen, Max, Fox, and Marlee. Pastor to Snow Hill Baptist Church. Graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Reading. Photography. Golf. Colorado. Jeeping. Friend. The views and opinions expressed here are my own and should not be construed as representing the corporate views of the church I pastor.

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