A Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote:

I believe that God can and will bring good out of evil, even out of the greatest evil. For that purpose, he needs men who make the best use of everything.

I got this from the Internet Monk, who adds these comments:

By all reports, Bonhoeffer made the best use of everything. He preached to the prisoners. He prayed with them. He composed poems and liturgy. He led music. He befriended the guards. He wrote theology. He wrote letters. He encouraged his parents, his friends and his fiance.

He made the best use of everything.

The prosperity disease tells us to worship and seek to manipulate a God who will give us prosperity while others suffer. It promises protection and a way to have more.

Bonhoeffer and Jeremiah [29:4-7] tell us to be useful to others. To live a normal, human life with God’s hope in the midst of it. To find reasons to do what we can wherever we are, rather than find reasons for all we cannot do because of those same circumstances.

May we make the most of everything God gives us in 2009, for the glory of God and in the service of others.

Grace and Peace