Bonhoeffer's Hidden Life in Tegel Prison

In the summer of 1944, Dietrich Bonhoeffer sat in a cramped cell in Berlin's Tegel Prison, awaiting trial for his role in the conspiracy against Hitler. Guards described him as calm, even cheerful. Fellow prisoners sought him out for comfort. One guard was so moved by Bonhoeffer's demeanor that he offered to help him escape.

Yet Bonhoeffer refused. He wrote a poem from that cell titled Who Am I? in which he wrestled honestly with the gap between how others saw him — steady, composed, confident — and what he felt inside: restless, weary, sick with longing. He concluded with a breathtaking declaration: "Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am Thine."

Bonhoeffer had already died to the life the world could offer him. A brilliant academic career in New York, safety across the Atlantic — he had turned his back on all of it to return to Germany. His real life was not defined by prison walls or the Third Reich's verdict. It was, as he put it, held entirely in the hands of God.

This is what Paul means in Colossians 3. When we have been raised with Christ, our deepest identity is no longer anchored to circumstances, reputation, or even survival. Our life is hidden with Christ in God — tucked away in the one place no tyrant, no tragedy, and no prison can reach.