Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Tuesday November 23, 2010

For the life of me I simply cannot understand the hesitation of God fearing people to embrace Dietrich Bonhoeffer. For years I have urged every person of faith to read about this man. Many put him off as "a Lutheran" and that's the end of it for them. Still others dismiss him as "liberal" and yet others buy into the defunct idea of his attempt at "Regicide" for joining a conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

The man's life of faith in Christ above acceptance and in spite of certain death for publicly defying Hitler concerning true Christianity verses Aryanism is text book perfect, the Bible being the text book. You are welcome to your reasons for not liking Bonhoeffer, I will forgive you, but I continue to hold him in high esteem for his faith in the face of the most brutal killing machine the earth has seen and his high moral character. You must read his letters from prison to the love of his life.

On a corner of my desk I have a little saying the helps me to stay on some track while writing this articles, essays or preferably life changing pages of truth. The saying is simple: Think. Feel. Act. I attempt to get you my dear reader to do all three. That I fail is testified to by my ever shrinking bank account.

As much as I admire Bonhoeffer, I have to admit he shot one plank of my platform out of the water with today's quote when he wrote:

"Action springs not from thought, but from a redirection of priorities."

An example of this truth is simple: most people sit around and think about what needs to be or should be done. And this is as far as it goes. We all get mountains of thinking done, but little or no action.

However, if we practice what most super successful people have practiced since the beginning to time we become over achievers. What? It is simple. At the end of each day, take a few minutes and write down ten things you will do starting in the morning. Then, arrange each task from one to ten in order of their priority. And then complete each task as much as possible prior to moving down the list. Simple? Yes? Then why are you and I not rich? Simple? Yes. We do NOT follow this simple rule.

In our time to say even or especially Christians have our priorities out of whack is shamefully true. Prior to using religious words out of context concerning me, why don't you try the above formula. Even a Lutheran knew the value of using this "redirection of priorities" for success in the most horrible time the world has experienced. Luke 10:27:

And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

I suppose the above verse would help in organizing priorities.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2010 Use with credit

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