I was studying for the message that I’m giving this Sunday and I was really challenged by this Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
“Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: ‘Ye were bought at a price’, and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I think one of the things that makes love this quote even more is the fact that I read a biography by Bonhoeffer last year. It was one of the best book I’ve read in a long time. I’m struck by the way that Bonhoeffer was not just brilliant (although he was that!), he also had the unique fortitude to truly live out what he believed – in some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable.
Hope you too are challenged to appreciated the grace that you have been given in a fresh way.