Bonhoeffer

There are a zillion things I would like to write about, but I lack the energy to compose anything. Chemotherapy drains me to the very bottom. So I'm sharing an excerpt from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together. The emphasis on the last sentence is mine.

Our righteousness is an 'alien righteousness,' a righteousness that comes from outside of us . . . the Christian is dependent on the Word of God spoken to him . . . God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others. God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God's Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother's is sure.

I am finding this to be absolutely true and difficult for me. If I must depend on God, please let me depend on God only! But God has designed us to need one another. Dang it.