Bruderhof Daily Dig

Declaring Bankruptcy

Brenda — Wed, 22 May 2013 09:00:23 +0000

There is nothing more dangerous than to say, “I am quite satisfied, I have all I need!” And of course in Christianity we do have everything, we need only believe! And yet you do not realize that you are wretched and miserable, poor, blind, and naked. No, I am not saying too much when I say that the Spirit of God does not venture to come to us today. Yet God calls us to repent because we do not have the Spirit and we should have had him for a long time already. And when we repent we must recognize our errors and how we as a people of God have done wrong, so that God has had to confront us more in anger than as a loving father.

Therefore, whoever feels today that he is unjust, or has done wrong, or is untruthful in the eyes of God should not be indifferent towards him. On no account should he say, “I just cannot be different!” He should repent, and bring his injustice, his untruthfulness, and his disobedient heart before God, and die to his own nature in the blood of Jesus Christ.

Dare To Decide

Brenda — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:00:25 +0000

Can there be something in life that has power over us which little by little causes us to forget all that is good? And can this ever happen to anyone who has heard the call of eternity quite clearly and strongly?

If this can ever be, then one must look for a cure against it. Praise be to God that such a cure exists – to quietly make a decision. A decision joins us to the eternal. It brings what is eternal into time. A decision raises us with a shock from the slumber of monotony. A decision breaks the magic spell of custom. A decision breaks the long row of weary thoughts. A decision pronounces its blessing upon even the weakest beginning, as long as it is a real beginning. Decision is the awakening to the eternal.

The Beatitudes are not a new law or moral teaching.

Life-Changing

Brenda — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:00:39 +0000

There are many reasons for the failure to comprehend Christ’s teaching…but the chief cause which has engendered all these misconceptions is this: that Christ’s teaching is considered to be such as can be accepted, or not accepted, without changing one’s life.

Christ does not promise security, either economic or otherwise.

The Requisite for Love

Brenda — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:00:39 +0000

Without your wounds where would your power be? The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken in the wheels of living. In love’s service, only the wounded soldiers can serve.

Out-and-Out Combat

Brenda — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:00:20 +0000

Because we ignore the sacrifices that lead to peace, we know nothing of God’s will to unite or of his well-considered thoughts of unity. Peace blooms on the soil of genuine truthfulness that is shown only in a life sacrificed to the utmost and spent in unarmed but out-and-out combat against all opposition to unity and constructive peace. The heart that makes the perfect sacrifice – the mightiest power of all worlds – is the only strength that can bring peace.

Greatness

Brenda — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:00:43 +0000

Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important, wonderful. If you want to be recognized, wonderful. If you want to be great, wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s your new definition of greatness. And this morning, the thing that I like about it, by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great. Because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermo-dynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.

Pure Compassion

Brenda — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:00:10 +0000

Christ does not save all those who say to Him: ‘Lord, Lord’. But he saves all those who out of a pure heart give a piece of bread to a starving man, without thinking about Him the least little bit. And these, when He thanks them, reply: Lord, when did we feed thee?

An atheist and an “infidel,” capable of pure compassion, are as close to God as is a Christian, and consequently know Him equally well, although their knowledge is expressed in other words, or remains unspoken. For “God is Love.”

What Is Hell?

Brenda — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:00:09 +0000

Fathers and teachers, I ponder, “What is hell?” I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love… They talk of hellfire in the material sense. I don’t go into that mystery, and I shun it. But I think that if there were a fire in a material sense, they would be glad of it, for I imagine that in material agony their still greater spiritual agony would be forgotten in a moment. Moreover, that spiritual agony cannot be taken from them, for that suffering is not external, but within them. And if it could be taken from them, I think it would be bitter still… Even if the righteous in Paradise forgave them…it would only multiply their own torments, for it would arouse in them…a flaming thirst for responsive, active, and grateful love, which is now impossible.

For most of us, it is the hells and heavens of the human heart that we must contend with.

What Children Deserve

Brenda — Fri, 10 May 2013 09:00:48 +0000

Children are living beings—more living than adults, who have built shells of habit around themselves. Therefore it is absolutely necessary for their mental health and development that they should not have mere schools for their lessons, but a world whose guiding spirit is personal love. It must be an ashram where men have gathered for the highest end of life, in the peace of nature; where life is not merely meditative, but fully awake in its activities; where children’s minds are not being perpetually drilled into believing that the idolatry of their nation is the truest ideal for them to accept; where they are bidden to realize man’s world as God’s kingdom, to whose citizenship they have to aspire; where the sunrise and sunset and the silent glory of stars are not daily ignored; where nature’s festivities of flowers and fruit have their joyous recognition; and where the young and the old, the teacher and the student, sit at the same table to take their daily food and the food of their eternal life.

Hidden Treasure

Brenda — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:00:34 +0000

Patience is a hard discipline. It is not just waiting until something happens over which we have no control: the arrival of the bus, the end of the rain, the return of a friend, the resolution of a conflict. Patience is not waiting passively until someone else does something. Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are. When we are impatient, we try to get away from where we are. We behave as if the real thing will happen tomorrow, later, and somewhere else. Be patient and trust that the treasure you are looking for is hidden in the ground on which you stand.