Last week I finished reading a new biography on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great Lutheran minister who stood toe to toe with the Nazis during World War II. He was eventually arrested by the SS and executed for opposing Hitler and standing for Jesus Christ. Take a second and read the words of the Nazi “doctor” who presided over Bonhoeffer’s execution. Dr. Fisher-Hullstrung wrote,

“Through the half-open door in one room of the huts I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer, before taking off his prison garb, kneeling on the floor praying fervently to his God. I was most deeply moved by the way this loveable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the steps to the gallows, brave and composed. In almost 50 years that I have worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a man who could answer the question “Who is God?” Bonhoeffer knew who God was and that belief directed his every step, his entire life.

I don’t believe that you and I or our children will ever have to face the Nazi gallows but everyday we are confronted with forces that, at best, trick us into apathy toward God and at worst, seek to separate and destroy our relationship with him.

The only way to confront these forces is to run directly into the arms of our big God who has a big love for us. This God sent his son so that we may have life and have it to the full. When we believe the truth about God we cannot help but follow His call.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxes