Full of Life Application & Pleasant Surprises

Seeing as how there are currently 180 reviews of Eric Metaxas' Bonhoeffer on Amazon, I would like to simply share a few of the many applications and pleasant surprises I received from Eric Metaxas' "Bonhoeffer".

• When Bonhoeffer is described, one of the first words most often used is ‘scholar’.  That is an appropriate label. The pleasant surprise was learning how much he loved teaching and mentoring kids. One of his first paid ministry positions was working with children. He started with a small handful of kids and the group grew quite large.  Years later he mentored a group of underprivileged teenage boys, even taking them away for weekends to his family’s country home.
• There is a lot of fascinating German history in this book.  For example, I knew Martin Luther's influence in Germany was deep and long-lasting.  I had no idea just how much so!  For example, with his translation of the bible into German, Luther united a nation with many dialects into a people with one language.
• It seems there was always somebody in his life whom he was showing and telling the truth.  And someone seems to have always been doing the same with him.  He was always both a Paul and a Timothy.
• Truth must not be just defended and proclaimed.  It should be loved and meditated upon.  It was Bonhoeffer’s practice to spend extended time every morning simply meditating on one or two verses of Scripture.  As a teacher he required his students to do the same.  This created a deep well of truth in his   life from which he would often draw in the spur of the moment and in demanding situations.  His love for Scripture and his belief in its relevance came out in his advice to his students: “A truly evangelical sermon must be like offering a child a fine red apple or offering a thirsty man a cool glass of wather and then saying, “Do you want it?””
• Bonhoeffer’s relevance for today cannot be understated.  Metaxas writes of Bonhoeffer’s second trip to America: “Reflecting on the American church scene, he was fascinated that tolerance trumped truth.”  Bonhoeffer wrote in one of his letters from the states: “Hence the American tolerance, or rather, indifference in dogmatic questions.  A warlike encounter is excluded, but so too is the true passionate longing for unity in faith.” A casual look at the American church scene would surely reveal a similar attitude today.
• I knew that Hitler was a wicked man, but I did not know the extent of his wickedness.  I also did not know that he had been planning his atrocities for many years before he came to power.  Bonhoeffer saw Hitler’s evil early on and was a courageous voice in opposition.  Oftentimes he was nearly alone in his courage.
• Lastly, Metaxas describes Bonhoeffer’s understanding of guilt and freedom in the life of a Christian.  “Bonhoeffer knew that to live in fear of incurring “guilt” was itself sinful. God wanted His beloved children to operate out of freedom and joy to do what was right and good, not out of fear of making a mistake. To live in fear and guilt was to be “religious” in the pejorative sense.”