The reason we are called to lay up treasures in heaven is because we are his treasure. When you are confident you are the Father's treasured possession, you are also confident that his loving care will continue forever. Building warehouses is a waste of time and space. His gifts to you become things you want to give back to him in gratitude. Then he gives you even more.
Running Scared, p134.
The kingdom is God's....Owners are the ones who do all the worrying; stewards simply listen to the owner's desires and work to implement them. Owners are repsonsible for the outcome; stewards strive to be faithful.
Running Scared, p133
The devil's strategy is to get us problem-centred rather than Christ-centred...
It is so easy to write daily our own little book From Praise to Prison or How to cultivate ministry paranoia. I have found it in myself, seen it in others and now in Fred. Sure we may have failed him in more ways than we can count, but let's not fail him now by not drawing him back to a spirit of praise...
The Heart of a Servant Leader, p122
The pattern is this: The Father genuinely cares about the daily
needs of His children, and he is constantly caring for us, but he wants this to
point us to something better. If we don’t
find our life and strength in Jesus Christ, we will go from one worry to the
next.
Running Scared, p131
Remember that God’s stories in Scripture are
progressive – they keep getting better. It is as if we are goven small doses of
reality when we are very young and cannot grasp God’s sophisticated love and
care. When we are older and have
witnessed more of God’s ways, we are prepared to hear it all. When we are young He gives us manna; when we are old He gives us his life. We get him.
Running Scared, p129
When trouble is on the horizon, we already feel
alone. We feel like we have to rely on
ourselves. We might know what God says
but it doesn’t seem relevant to the emerging crisis We have a sense that the kingdom is for the
future but our needs and worries are in the present. In other words, the Evil One doesn’t have to
do much more than say, “Yes you are right to think that you have to hoard to
protect your own kingdom.”
Running Scared, p125
