MEDITATION:
Written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), a Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, author, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. This is an excerpt from the devotional, “40 Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer.”
Those who follow Jesus’ commandment entirely, who let Jesus’ yoke rest on them without resistance, will find the burden they must bear to be light. In the gentle pressure of this yoke they will receive the strength to walk the right path without becoming weary.…Where will the call to discipleship lead those who follow it? What decisions and painful separations will it entail? We must take this question to him who alone knows the answer. Only Jesus Christ, who bids us follow him, knows where the path will lead. But we know that it will be a path full of mercy beyond measure. Discipleship is joy.
To be a disciple is not just to believe in Jesus, it is to follow Jesus. Is your burden of discipleship “light”?
PRAYER:
Written by Basil the Great (330-379) of Caesarea, an influential theologian and pastor. He was one of the Cappadocian Fathers.
We bless You, O most high God and Lord of mercy, Who art ever doing numberless great and inscrutable things with us, glorious and wonderful; Who grants us sleep for rest from our infirmities, and repose from the burdens of our much toiling flesh. We thank You that You have not destroyed us with our sins, but has loved us as ever, and though we are sunk in despair, You have raised us up to glorify Your power.
Therefore we implore Your incomparable goodness, enlighten the eyes of our understanding and raise up our mind from the heavy sleep of indolence; open our mouth and fill it with Your praise, that we may be able undistracted to sing and confess You, Who art God glorified in all and by all, the eternal Father, with Your only-begotten Son, and Your all-holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
Pathways Press.com 