Midweek Meditation >> "Costly Grace"

One of Bonhoeffer's most famous legacies is his book, "The Cost of Discipleship." The way he begins this book blows readers away. Chapter 1 alone is worth the price of the book.

"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him." 

(Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, New York, NY: Macmillan, 1959, p36)

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