Devotional guides are plentiful. I expect that with the present coronavirus crisis, Christians will produce many more. I see them as nice, but not necessary. Actually, they indicate that somewhere below the surface of devotional Christianity is a hollowed-out spirituality. This was generally true of Bonhoeffer who disliked emotionalism, Pietism, altar calls, and sentimentalism. Feeling good, while quite popular in the human race, has a poor record in actually changing people. This is not easy to say when people, in general, are acting so Christian. Even those clearly not Christian know how to act Christian in a pinch.
I recently told a neighbor who went to the store for us that he might as well become a Christian because he was acting like one. If things get worse (I hope they don’t. I pray they don’t.) we will go to the next level. And each new level into inconvenience and lack of resources will produce more pressure on the system and our own personal systems. Pressure produces. Pressure on coal produces diamonds, but too much pressure on systems break them Pressure on people pushes them into fear, panic, anger, and survival of the fittest. Gun sales are on the rise because someone may come for your food, for your money, or even for your toilet paper. I hope and pray that I am surprised. That we all hold up better than expected and that we will rue the day that we thought less of who we are than we should have.
Yet, I can’t get out of my mind that Dietrich Bonhoeffer linked the failure of his own German Lutheran church to the rise of Adolf Hitler. I don’t believe he drew a straight line; it was more how liberal theology had hollowed out the heart of the German state church. They then failed to stand up to Hitler when he began to oppress the Jews. This particular crisis is nothing like the rise of national socialism in post-World War I Germany, but our nation is under siege and the future is uncertain. The great security we felt in a strong economy a few weeks ago is threatened. The savings and investments of millions are at risk. So, what is it that we can do?
We can hold on tight and get through it, that is certainly part of it. I expect that Americans, in fact much of the world, will do that. Survival is a very high human value. Bonhoeffer wanted more for his country and long term; we want more for ours. Possibly the best-known passage from Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship says it well:
“Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of the church.”
Bonhoeffer believed cheap grace is what caused the German Church to fail. Their hollowed-out heart had nothing to give when it was required. They just didn’t have what it would take to stand up and not shut up. I think the American church is stronger than that, much stronger. We are especially great when we face something we can see and feel, like a virus, a hurricane, or some natural disaster. We are, however, pretty clueless when it comes to the hidden world. Paul says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers in the unseen world (Ephesians 6:12). Even at that, when confronted with demonic manifestation, more Christians than we think know what to do. I learned this as a pastor. Many brave and strong believers took on the dark forces of evil as manifested in their fellow human beings. Here, however, what is at work is unseen and hidden. A gospel that saves but does not call. A gospel that forgives but does not catapult a person forward. A gospel that only deals with forgiveness of sin without expecting, even requiring, a life of discipleship.
What harm can an easy gospel create? It warms our hearts to see hundreds, even thousands, streaming forward at large meetings around the world. The problem is that we are consigning them to a cheap imitation gospel that is a vaccine against the real thing. This cheap gospel dominates the church around the world, and it is reaping a bitter harvest of new disciples who do not believe in discipleship. Discipleship to Christ, engagement in his mission, and replication of themselves in others is considered optional. The United States is not only one of the most difficult mission fields, it is large and resistant. The major urban centers of the United States, from Washington DC to New York City, Seattle, Washington to San Diego, California, basically ignores the cheap gospel. They rightly refuse to believe it. They don’t chew it up and spit it out, they lean back and laugh you out of town. For even these undiscerning souls recognize a stupid idea when they hear it. Namely, “pray this prayer and you get to go to heaven, no matter what you do”. And oh, by the way, anyone who doesn’t do this, will spend eternity in Hell.
I must stop for now, but I leave you with a suggested antidote from the great writer of the 19th century, George MacDonald:
“Instead of asking yourself whether you believe or not, ask yourself whether you have this day done one thing because he said, Do it, or once abstained because he said, Do not do it. It is simply absurd to say you believe, or even want to believe in him if you do not do anything he tells you.”[1]
[1] George MacDonald, An Anthology: 365 Readings
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