A thought-provoking quotation from a great man.

I was reading before bed last night, and this passage jolted me back awake.

"It is not in our life that God's help and presence must still
be proved, but rather God's presence and help have been demonstrated for us in the life of Jesus Christ. It is in fact more important for us to know what God did to Israel, to His Son Jesus Christ, than to seek what God intends for us today. The fact that Jesus Christ died is more important than the fact that I shall die, and the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead is the sole ground of my hope that I, too, shall be raised on the Last Day. Our salvation is "external to ourselves." I find no salvation in my life history, but only in the history of Jesus Christ. Only he who allows himself to be found in Jesus Christ, in his incarnation, his Cross, and his resurrection, is with God and God with him." *

Thus wrote Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book Life Together. His purpose was to encourage Christians to read as much of the Word of God and be as familiar with it as possible. Bonhoeffer advocated that Christians in community, ie families, seminaries, schools, should read a full chapter of the Old Testament and half a chapter of the New Testament in the morning and at night, as well as praying the psalms. He complained that the modern Christian is too ignorant of the Word of God to appreciate its interwoven context and his own place in the context of salvation.

What we call our life, our troubles, our guilt, is by no means all of reality; there in the Scriptures is our life, our need, our guilt, and our salvation. . . . We must learn to know the Scriptures again, as the Reformers knew them. We must not grudge the time and work that it takes.

Bonhoeffer asserts that only people who are well-versed in the Scriptures, their context and their continuity and above all their relationship to the person of Jesus Christ, can correctly guide a church, effectively rebuke a sinner, or even be certain of his or her own salvation.

"It is not surprising that the person who attempts to cast discredit upon their wisdom whould be the one who does not seriously read, know, and study the Scriptures. But one who will not learn to handle the Bible for himself is not an evangelical Christian."*

It seemed pretty harsh to me last night, but I even then I could see his point. We can only know God as God reveals himself, and the only place that God has revealed himself directly is in Scripture. Yes, he also works in our lives, but as valuable as testimonies are, if they are not understood in the light of what God has already done and how God shows himself to operate, they won't answer any questions.

I think about all the times that my depression, my anxiety, my loneliness, and my mistakes have made me question my security. "If I were a Christian, I wouldn't feel this way. I must be doing something wrong." was my daily mantra a couple of years ago. Only after I understood that my feelings were not a proper indication of salvation but my salvation was settled by something that was done and established two thousand years ago did I begin to feel saved. From that point I could begin to knowingly practice obedience, and faith as a mature Christian.

*apologies for the structure. I'm still learning to make blogger work for me.