Thought for today

"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance,
baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution
without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship,
grace without the Cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

"Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man
will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to
buy which the merchant will sell all his goods.

"Costly grace is the Gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift
which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because
it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his
life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is
costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner.
Above all, it is costly because it costs God the life of His Son: "ye were
bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.
Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price
to pay for our life, but delivered Him up for us. Costly grace is the
Incarnation of God."
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "The Cost of Discipleship"