awake & free: {Obedience, the Market, & Dietrich Bonhoeffer} (Heather)

“When he was challenged by Jesus to accept a life of voluntary poverty, the rich young man knew he was faced with the simple alternative of obedience or disobedience. When Levi was called from the receipt of custom and Peter from his nets, there was no doubt that Jesus meant business. Both of them were to leave everything and follow. Again, when Peter was called to walk on the rolling sea, he had to get up and risk his life. Only one thing was required in each case—to rely on Christ’s word, and cling to it as offering greater security than all the securities in the world. The forces which tried to interpose themselves between the word of Jesus and the response of obedience were as formidable then as they are today… But the call of Jesus made short work of all these barriers, and created obedience. That call was the Word of God himself, and all that it required was single-minded obedience.”
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer (The Cost of Discipleship)

Recently I’ve been reading The Cost of Discipleship, and it has really challenged me to evaluate if I am being obedient to God’s Word. It’s so easy sometimes to read a selected part of Scripture for the day and not allow it to penetrate my heart and transform my mind. I want to live out the single-minded obedience but often I’m not sure how to do that in the midst of everyday life.

A couple of weeks ago I was thinking over some of these things and decided to just pray that God would give me an opportunity to take a step of faith with Him. Later that day, Ramsey and I were in the market picking up some food on the way to our community group. Ramsey was wearing some Virginia Tech apparel, so a guy stopped us to ask if we were Hokies. {I made sure to let him know I went to WVU, but that Ramsey was a Hokie.} We started talking to him for at least 45 minutes and got to hear a good bit about his life. We also had the opportunity to hear a little bit about where he was spiritually and invite him to church with us. We haven’t heard anything from him yet, but I’m hopeful that we will.

If you know me much at all, you probably gathered that I’m not the most outgoing person, but it was cool to see God provide an opportunity to talk to someone I didn’t know about Him. It reminds me that Jesus can use us just as we are.

Today I’m praying for more opportunities for you and me to live in total obedience to Jesus no matter what our day holds. I’d love to hear the ways you feel like God is calling you to follow Him today—leave a comment below and share!

P.S. Check out our We Recommend tab for a great book about Bonhoeffer.