Freedom in Obedience

Here is a great maxim from Dietrich Bonhoffer in his book The Cost of Discipleship:  "Only those who obey can believe, and only those who believe can obey."  Jesus calls everyone to discipleship.  We cannot blame our disobedience on Him.  On page 73 he says concerning the rich young ruler who approached Jesus, "Only the devil has an answer for our moral difficulties, and he says:  "Keep on posing problems, and you will escape the necessity of obedience"...There is one thing only which Jesus takes seriously, and that is that it is high time the young man began to hear the commandment and obey it.  Where moral difficulties are taken so seriously, where they torment and enslave man, because they do not leave him open to the freeing activity of obedience, it is there that his total godlessness is revealed.  All his difficulties are shown to be ungodly, frivolous, and the proof of sheer disobedience.  The one thing that matters is practical obedience.  That will solve his difficulties and make him (and all of us) free to become the child of God."