Right now I’m reading, “The Cost of Discipleship” by Deitrich Bonhoeffer.  This book is already a favorite, and I’m only in about 4 chapters.  It’s not a favorite because it sits well, it’s a favorite because it is utterly offensive, truthful, and bold.  It’s a favorite because it has called me out of complacency.

The first chapter is entitled “Costly Grace”.  I just wanted to share an excerpt that got my mind questioning how I often view grace, and how most Christians view grace.

“Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church.  We are fighting today for costly grace.

Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks’ wares.  The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented by as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits.  Grace without price; grace without cost!  The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing.  Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite.  What would grace be if it were not cheap?… Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner.  Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before.  “All for sin could not atone.”  The world goes on in the same old way, and we are still sinners “even in the best life” as Luther said.  Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin…

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has.  It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods.  It is the kingly rule of  Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which much be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which the man must knock.  Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.  It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner.  Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “Ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. “