"The road to
hell is paved with good intentions." This saying, which is found in a broad
variety of lands, does not arise from the brash worldly wisdom of an
incorrigible. It instead reveals deep Christian insight. At the beginning of a
new year, many people have nothing better to do than to make a list of bad
deeds and resolve from now on - how many such 'from-now-ons' have there already
been! - to begin with better intentions, but they are still stuck in the middle
of their paganism. They believe that a good intention already means a new
beginning; they believe that on their own they can make a new start whenever
they want. But that is an evil illusion: only God can make a new beginning with
people whenever God pleases, but not people with God. Therefore, people cannot
make a new beginning at all; they can only pray for one. Where people are on
their own and live by their own devices, there is only the old, the past. Only
where God is can there be a new beginning. We cannot command God to grant it:
we can only pray to God for it. And we can pray only when we realize that we
cannot do anything, that we have reached our limit, that someone else must make
that new beginning……People who want to live solely by their good intentions
have no idea where those intentions actually come from. It's worth a closer
look. Our so-called good intentions are nothing but anxious byproducts of a
weak heart that fears all kinds of evils and sins and now arms itself with very
human weapons in order to go against those powers. But whoever is afraid of sin
is already in the middle of it. Fear is the net that evil throws over us, so
that we become entangled and soon fall. Those who are afraid have already
fallen. If we are on a difficult mountain climb and are suddenly consumed with
fear, we will surely stumble. Hence, such anxious good intentions do us no
good. We can certainly never make a new beginning with them. How can we make a
fresh start? 'No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back…' (Luke 9:62).
One who guides a plow does not look back - or into the immense distance - but
to the next step that must be taken. Backward glances are not a Christian thing
to do. Leave fear, anxiety, and guilt behind. And look to the One who gives you
a new beginning.
Dietrich
Bonhoeffer