Dietrich Bonhoeffer Quotes About Giving

Quotes about: Giving

• Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness and pride of power and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear rather than too much. Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now. Christian should take a stronger stand in favor of the weak rather than considering first the possible right of the strong.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Christian, Peace, Strong

• In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Inspirational, Life, Thank You

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2011). “Letters Papers from Prison”, p.52, Simon and Schuster

• Do not worry! Earthly goods deceive the human heart into believing that they give it security and freedom from worry. But in truth, they are what cause anxiety. The heart which clings to goods receives with them the choking burden of worry. Worry collects treasures, and treasures produce more worries. We desire to secure our lives with earthly goods; we want our worrying to make us worry-free, but the truth is the opposite. The chains which bind us to earthly goods, the clutches which hold the goods tight, are themselves worries.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Believe, Heart, Opposites

• We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Gratitude, Giving, Thankfulness

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Samuel Wells (2015). “Life Together”, p.17, SCM Press

• God does not give us everything we want, but He does fulfill His promises.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Giving, Promise, Doe

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Clyde E. Fant (1975). “Bonhoeffer: worldly preaching”

• If you do a good job for others, you heal yourself at the same time, because a dose of joy is a spiritual cure.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  God, Spiritual, Jobs

• The will of God, to which the law gives expression, is that men should defeat their enemies by loving them.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Men, Expression, Law

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2015). “The Cost of Discipleship”, p.96, SCM Press

• The church is only the church when it exists for others. To make a start, it should give away all its property to those in need. The clergy must live solely on the free-will offerings of their congregations, or possibly engage in some secular calling. The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live in Christ, to exist for others.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Mean, Men, Offering

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1986). “Bonhoeffer for a New Generation”

• It matters little what form of prayer we adopt or how many words we use. What matters is the faith which lays hold on God, knowing that He knows our needs before we even ask Him. That is what gives Christian prayer its boundless confidence and its joyous certainty.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Christian, Prayer, Knowing

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2015). “The Cost of Discipleship”, p.110, SCM Press

• If we look more closely, we see that any violent display of power, whether political or religious, produces an outburst of folly in a large part of mankind; indeed, this seems actually to be a psychological and sociological law: the power of some needs the folly of others. It is not that certain human capacities, intellectual capacities for instance, become stunted of destroyed, but rather that the upsurge of power makes such an overwhelming impression that men are deprived of their independent judgment, and...give up trying to assess the new state of affairs for themselves.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Religious, Giving Up, Independent

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2011). “Letters Papers from Prison”, p.10, Simon and Schuster

• In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Gratitude, Grateful, Giving

• There is no way to peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared. It is itself the great venture and can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself. Peace means giving oneself completely to God's commandment. Wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of almighty God. Not trying to direct it for selfish purposes. Battles are won not with weapons, but with God. They are won when the way leads to the cross.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Selfish, Mean, Destiny

• Temptations which accompany the working day will be conquered on the basis of the morning breakthrough to God. Decisions, demanded by work, become easier and simpler where they are made not in the fear of men, but only in the sight of God. He wants to give us today the power which we need for our work.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Morning, Prayer, Work

• Oh, give our frightened souls the sure salvation for which, O Lord, You taught us to prepare. And when this cup You give is filled to brimming with bitter suffering, hard to understand, we take it thankfully and without trembling, out of so good and so beloved a hand. Yet when again in this same world You give us the joy we had, the brightness of Your Sun, we shall remember all the days we lived through, and our whole life shall then be Yours alone.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Hands, Taught Us, Giving

• Jesus says that every Christian has his own cross waiting for him, a cross destined and appointed by God. Each must endure his allotted share of suffering and rejection. But each has a different share: some God deems worthy of the highest form of suffering, and gives them the grace of martyrdom, while others he does not allow to be tempted above that which they are able to bear. But it is the one and the same cross in every case.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Christian, Jesus, Giving

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2015). “The Cost of Discipleship”, p.44, SCM Press

• The Church is her true self only when she exists for humanity. As a fresh start, she should give away all her endowments to the poor and needy. The clergy should live solely on the freewill offerings of their congregations, or possibly engage in some secular calling.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Offering, Self, Giving

• It is remarkable how I am never quite clear about the motives for any of my decisions. Is that a sign of confusion or inner dishonesty or is it a sign that we are guided without our knowing or is it both ...The reasons one gives for an action to others and to one's self are certainly inadequate. One can give a reason for everything. In the last resort one acts from a level which remains hidden from us. So one can only ask God to judge us and to forgive us.... At the end of the day I can only ask God to give a merciful judgement on today and all its decisions. It is now in his hand.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Hands, Knowing, Self

• If there is no element of asceticism in our lives, if we give free rein to the desires of the flesh (taking care of course to keep within the limits of what seems permissible to the world), we shall find it hard to train for the service of Christ. When the flesh is satisfied it is hard to pray with cheerfulness or to devote oneself to a life of service which calls for much self-renunciation.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Thanksgiving, Self, Desire

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2015). “The Cost of Discipleship”, p.115, SCM Press

• The consciousness of being borne up by a spiritual tradition that goes back for centuries gives one a feeling of confidence and security in the face of all passing strains and stresses.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Spiritual, Stress, Giving

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2011). “Letters Papers from Prison”, p.75, Simon and Schuster

• Only he who gives thanks for the little things receives the big things.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Giving, Littles, Thanks

• When a man really gives up trying to make something out of himself - a saint, or a converted sinner, or a churchman (a so-called clerical somebody), a righteous or unrighteous man,...and throws himself into the arms of God...then he wakes with Christ in Gethsemane. That is faith, that is metanoia and it is thus that he becomes a man and Christian.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Christian, Giving Up, Men

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2015). “The Cost of Discipleship”, p.22, SCM Press

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