..."It is only when God wills to look upon our person and our doing that we do not build in vain. It is only when God lets the light of eternity fall upon us and our work that the watchman does not “stand guard in vain.” God builds when he makes new people out of the old, new people for his eternal kingdom. When God says yes to us in our sin, then we are already justified, although we remain sinners. For God sees not the partial but the whole. So the light of fulfillment shines even upon our work, sinful as we are.
God’s building for eternity is forgiveness, an overpowering divine love. So long as we are on this earth, we remain and our work remains full of sin, it is temporal as everything else is. But God has looked upon it, God has built it, God has forgiven. So long as we are at work, we will not build the kingdom of God. But so long as God looks upon us and our work and has compassion upon the godless, so surely will he himself build his house, the eternal kingdom, where all is spirit. God the Father will reveal his lordship. We, through Jesus Christ, his Son, have access to him and receive forgiveness of all our sins. And God will be all in all. Your kingdom come! Maranatha, yes, come Lord Jesus. "
Thanks for your reflections!
..."It is only when God wills to look upon our person and our doing that we do not build in vain. It is only when God lets the light of eternity fall upon us and our work that the watchman does not “stand guard in vain.” God builds when he makes new people out of the old, new people for his eternal kingdom. When God says yes to us in our sin, then we are already justified, although we remain sinners. For God sees not the partial but the whole. So the light of fulfillment shines even upon our work, sinful as we are.
God’s building for eternity is forgiveness, an overpowering divine love. So long as we are on this earth, we remain and our work remains full of sin, it is temporal as everything else is. But God has looked upon it, God has built it, God has forgiven. So long as we are at work, we will not build the kingdom of God. But so long as God looks upon us and our work and has compassion upon the godless, so surely will he himself build his house, the eternal kingdom, where all is spirit. God the Father will reveal his lordship. We, through Jesus Christ, his Son, have access to him and receive forgiveness of all our sins. And God will be all in all. Your kingdom come! Maranatha, yes, come Lord Jesus. "
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Sermon to the
Preachers’ Seminar
Berlin, May 20, 1926
I wrote a little song called Lazy Lily, and here are the lyrics:
Neither does she spin or toil
The Lazy Lily of the field
But Solomon in all his glory
Was not arrayed as one of these
Vain it is to rise up early
To eat the bread of toil and pain
Our Father blesses His beloved
Even as they rest in Him
Do you really think the Father of the universe
Who does miracles with lilies to adorn the grass
And who provides for every sparrow as the ages pass
Doesn't care for you?
Knows not what you're going through?