'When the Bible speaks of following Jesus, it is proclaiming a discipleship which will liberate mankind from all man-made dogmas, from every burden and oppression from every anxiety and torture which afflicts the conscience. If they follow Jesus, men escape from the the hard yoke of their own laws, and submit to the kindly yoke of Jesus Christ. But does this mean that we ignore the seriousness of his commands? Far from it. We can only achieve perfect liberty and enjoy fellowship with Jesus when his command, his call to absolute discipleship, is appreciated in its entirety. Only the man who follows the command of Jesus single-mindedly, and unresistingly lets his yoke rest upon him, finds his burden easy, and under its gentle pressure receives the power to persevere in the right way. The command of Jesus is hard, unutterably hard. for those that try and resist it. But for those who willingly submit, the yoke is easy and the burden is light. "His commandments are not grevious" (1 John 5.3). The commandment of Jesus is not a sort of spiritual shock treatment. Jesus asks nothing of us without giving us the strength to perform it. His commandments never seek to destroy life, but foster, stregthen and heal it.'
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p.xxxiii.
