few words

"When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer." ~Luke 23:8 NIV

"One reason we can hardly bear to remain silent is that is makes us feel so helpless. We are so accustomed to relying upon words to manage and control others. If we are silent, who will take control? ...Silence is intimately related to trust.

The tongue is our most powerful weapon of manipulation. A frantic stream of words flows from us because we are in a constant process of adjusting our public image. We fear so deeply what we think other people see in us, so we talk in order to straighten out their understanding...One of the fruits of silence is the freedom to let our justification rest entirely with God...Bonhoeffer wrote, 'Real silence, real stillness, really holding one's tongue comes only as the sober consequence of spiritual stillness.'

It's important to observe ourselves to see how often our speech is a frantic attempt to explain and justify our actions. Experiment with doing deeds without any words of explanation...Try to allow God to be your justifier.

Discipline yourself so that your words are few and full. Become known as a person who has something to say when you speak. Maintain plain speech. Do what you say you will do. 'It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay' (Eccl 5:5) When our tongue is under our authority, the words of Bonhoeffer become true of us: 'Much that is unnecessary remains unsaid. But the essential and the helpful thing can be said in a few words.' ~from Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster

bonhoeffer

"We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer". 

“Judging others 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.”

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

grace: cheap and costly

"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 gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock...It is costly because it cost 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 ministry of the closed mouth

"Often we combat our evil thoughts most effectively if we absolutely refuse to allow them to be expressed in words...It must be a decisive rule of every Christian fellowship that each individual is prohibited from saying much that occurs to him."  ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Sometimes this ministry involves our holding our tongues about the spiritual progress we think we are making.

"We often say that we are nothing, that we are misery itself and the refuse of the world, but we would be very sorry if anyone took us at our word or told others that we are really such as we say...We pretend to want to be last in the company and to be seated at the foot of the table, but it is with a view to moving more easily to the upper end. True humility does not make a show of itself and hardly speaks in a humble way. It not only wants to conceal all other virtues but most of all it wants to conceal itself." ~Francis de Sales

blind

"Judging others 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 ourselves."

~The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer