Stealing Jesus - B
Soul Snack 9/196 ... Stealing Jesus - B
Flowing flawlessly through a soul that has fasted of righteousness is an unhindered self-will.
No one has ever lived who has not faced a very aggressive self-will. It punches at righteousness and pleads against devotion. It crowds out heavenly desires and knocks selflessness to the canvas. His Holy Spirit is the only referee to keep it in check. His Holy Spirit the guardian of my Jesus alone, in me.
The flimsy echo of a Christian conviction is pummelled into a death inviting submission - 'ignore Calvary and attend to self alone', it commands. This is the command that steals Jesus from my life.
Yet the hand-forged nails that penetrated both flesh and bone mock and confront a thin belief that is satisfied by casual ritual and irregular exercises of a meagre personal devotion.
In April 1945 Dietrich Bonhoeffer at age 39 was assassinated for being part of the plot to assassinate Hitler - he had already worked out:
"When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die." Bonhoeffer