The Cost of Discipleship
Daily meditations on Bonhoeffer's call to costly grace
Day 1
Cheap Grace vs. Costly Grace
"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?"
Reflection
Bonhoeffer opens his great work with a devastating diagnosis of the church's greatest enemy: cheap grace. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, the Lord's Supper without confession. It is grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ. Costly grace, however, is the treasure hidden in a field — for which a man will sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is costly because it calls us to follow Jesus, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus. The only man who has a right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ.
Prayer
Father, strip away every cheap substitute for true discipleship. Let me never cheapen what You purchased at infinite cost. Help me to embrace the costly grace that demands everything and gives even more in return. May I never use Your forgiveness as license to continue in sin, but rather let it propel me into deeper obedience and love. Amen.
Reflection Questions
- •In what areas of your life might you be relying on 'cheap grace' — assuming God's forgiveness without genuine repentance or change?
- •What does it mean practically that grace is 'costly'? How should this change the way you live today?
- •Bonhoeffer says costly grace 'calls us to follow.' What is Jesus calling you to follow Him into right now?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."
👉 Take a Step
Pray
Take 2 minutes right now. Talk to God about what you just read.
Act
Choose one thing to do today based on what God showed you.
Share
Tell someone — a friend, family member, or the community — what God is showing you.