Jesus Christ stands between the lover and the others he loves...Because Christ stands between me and others, I dare not desire direct fellowship with them. As only Christ can speak to me in such a way that I may be saved, so others, too, can be saved only by Christ himself. This means that I must release the other person from every attempt of mine to regulate, coerce, and dominate him with my love....Thus this spiritual love will speak to Christ about a brother more than to a brother about Christ. It knows that the most direct to others is always through prayer to Christ and that love of others is wholly dependent upon the truth in Christ.Dietrich Bonhoeffer from Life Together, 35-37, quoted by Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, 237.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
quote of the week: Bonhoeffer on kingdom love
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Amen!
By the way, I really enjoyed reading Divine Conspiracy and Life Together, both terrific books.
Lanny,
Yes. Both of those books are among those that deserve to be read and reread again and again.
I'm getting a good stretch now reading Bonhoeffer on Genesis, Creation, Fall and Temptation.
Post a Comment