The More the Merrier

“The more the merrier.” – John Heywood, 1546

I have a list of quotes by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor and theologian who was martyred for his faith and for standing up to Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. Looking at the list today, I tried to decide which quote to use as a springboard for this devotional, but they were all so deep and profound that I felt using one and not another would be a grave disservice. And so, instead of taking a single quote and then adding my own insights, I thought it best to “sit this one out” and let you feast on a straight diet of Bonhoeffer’s wisdom.

“Judging other makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.”

“When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.”

“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice; we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”

“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”

“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.”

“If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction.”

“When all is said and done, the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh.”

“Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.”

“Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn from them.” Proverbs 4:5 (BSB)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President