Bonhoeffer - 'Suppose then we say finally that whereas the commandment the disciples received was plain and clear enough, we have to decide for ourselves which of his words applies to our particular case. That again is a complete MISUNDERSTANDING of the situation of the disciples, and of our own situation too.
The object of Jesus' command is ALWAYS the same-- to evoke wholehearted faith, to make us love God and our neighbor with all our heart and soul.
This is the only unequivocal feature in his command.
Every time we try to perform the commandment of Jesus in some other sense, it is another sign that we have misunderstood his word and are disobeying it. But this does not mean that we have no means whatever of ascertaining what he would have us do in any concrete situation. On the contrary, we are told quite clearly what we have to do every time we hear the word of Christ proclaimed; yet in such a way that we understand that there is no other way of fulfilling it, but by faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Thus the gift Jesus gave to his disciples is just as available for us as it was for them. In fact it is even more readily available for us now that he has left the world, because we know that he is glorified, and because the Holy Spirit is with us.'
My thoughts-
The commandments of Jesus are LOVE realized. We have twisted them into becoming something that restricts us, forbids us, commands us to do things we just would rather not do. Why don't we want to do them? Why don't we have a natural inclination to do so? Because of SIN.
Sin.
Sin stripped away our natural inclination. Our Savior restores it IF we let Him! If we realize we must LIVE every moment of our lives dedicated to HIM.
We cannot pick and choose the moments we are his and the moments we are not! We want to, but we can't! We try to, but we can't! We have to be His through faith always. Our life must be HIS, always. We must LOVE HIM ALWAYS. Only but clinging to Him and trusting in Him through faith can we have any hope at all.
When we are BORN AGAIN it is a spiritual birth that is a new life in CHRIST. A new life. A Spiritual life!
It is true what Bonhoeffer says- if we 'try and perform the commandment of Jesus in some other sense, it is another sign that we have misunderstood his word and are disobeying it.' We HAVE to perform all the commandments of our Savior through our Savior and not through ourselves!
Mar_12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar_12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Jesus' words! TRUTH!
We shall love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our strength- with ALL of ourselves!
We can only Love through HIM when we choose to LOVE Him with all that we are. We must choose- HE does the rest.
Please LORD we choose YOU!
The object of Jesus' command is ALWAYS the same-- to evoke wholehearted faith, to make us love God and our neighbor with all our heart and soul.
This is the only unequivocal feature in his command.
Every time we try to perform the commandment of Jesus in some other sense, it is another sign that we have misunderstood his word and are disobeying it. But this does not mean that we have no means whatever of ascertaining what he would have us do in any concrete situation. On the contrary, we are told quite clearly what we have to do every time we hear the word of Christ proclaimed; yet in such a way that we understand that there is no other way of fulfilling it, but by faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Thus the gift Jesus gave to his disciples is just as available for us as it was for them. In fact it is even more readily available for us now that he has left the world, because we know that he is glorified, and because the Holy Spirit is with us.'
My thoughts-
The commandments of Jesus are LOVE realized. We have twisted them into becoming something that restricts us, forbids us, commands us to do things we just would rather not do. Why don't we want to do them? Why don't we have a natural inclination to do so? Because of SIN.
Sin.
Sin stripped away our natural inclination. Our Savior restores it IF we let Him! If we realize we must LIVE every moment of our lives dedicated to HIM.
We cannot pick and choose the moments we are his and the moments we are not! We want to, but we can't! We try to, but we can't! We have to be His through faith always. Our life must be HIS, always. We must LOVE HIM ALWAYS. Only but clinging to Him and trusting in Him through faith can we have any hope at all.
When we are BORN AGAIN it is a spiritual birth that is a new life in CHRIST. A new life. A Spiritual life!
It is true what Bonhoeffer says- if we 'try and perform the commandment of Jesus in some other sense, it is another sign that we have misunderstood his word and are disobeying it.' We HAVE to perform all the commandments of our Savior through our Savior and not through ourselves!
Mar_12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar_12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Jesus' words! TRUTH!
We shall love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our strength- with ALL of ourselves!
We can only Love through HIM when we choose to LOVE Him with all that we are. We must choose- HE does the rest.
Please LORD we choose YOU!
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