From Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book Meditations on the Cross, the chapter entitled "Discipleship & the Cross" based on Mark 8:31-38 (Jesus rebukes Peter for rebuking him).
Just as Christ is Christ only in suffering and rejection, so also are they disciples only in suffering and rejection, in being crucified with Christ...While I remain firm in my belief of the sovereignty of God, He clearly has placed our fate in our own hands. We must choose Christ. The choice is not thrust upon us. Will I continue to choose Christ, even after I have chosen the first time and then later realized all of the other ways I can live?
The mediation of this inalienable truth to the disciples, however, begins, strangely enough, with Jesus once again giving his disciples complete freedom. Jesus says: "If any want to become my followers." That is to say, this is not self-evident even among the disciples themselves. No one can be coerced, nor can it be experted of anyone; rather: "If any," despite despite all of the other offers made to you, still want to become my followers... So once again, everything depends on one's decision. (Emphasis his)
(By the way, you didn't miss the Day 4 quote. I didn't post one. The reading didn't lend itself to excerpt.)
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