Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life

Anything I cannot thank God for for the sake of Christ, I may not thank God for at all; to do so would be sin. ... We cannot rightly acknowledge the gifts of God unless we acknowledge the Mediator for whose sake alone they are given to us.

But the Christian also knows that he not only cannot and dare not be anxious, but that there is no need for him to be so. Neither anxiety now work can secure his daily bread, for bread is the gift of the Father.

God does not love some ideal person, but rather human beings just as we are, not some ideal world, but rather the real world.

It is infinitely easier to suffer in obedience to a human command than to accept suffering as free, responsible men.

Still more pathetic is the total collapse of moral fanaticism. Fanatics think that their single-minded principles qualify them to do battle with the powers of evil; but like a bull they rush at the red cloak instead of the person who is holding it; he exhausts himself and is beaten. He gets entangled in non-essentials and falls into the trap set by cleverer people.

Battles are won, not with weapons, but with God. They are won where the way leads to the cross.