February 10, 2010 by Stuart Williams
Often the rhetoric we use to describe our life in Christ bears only a thin resemblance to where we really are. We boast of what we are giving because it hides what we are withholding. We allow ourselves to believe that we are capable of love just because we are capable of devout sentiment.
- Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus, HarperOne, copyright 2005, page 46
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February 9, 2010 by Stuart Williams
Soren Kierkegaard, the father of Christian existentialism, describes two kinds of Christians: those who imitate Jesus Christ and a second, much cheaper brand – those who are content to admire him.
- Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus, HarperOne, copyright 2005, page 45
Posted in Manning, Brennan | Tagged Christian Existentialism, Christians, Soren Kierkegaard | Leave a Comment »
February 9, 2010 by Stuart Williams
When Jesus Christ reveals himself through the gospel, which is active and creative, he calls for a spontaneous response. His message is not a reassurance to keep right on doing what we’ve been doing, but, writes Edward O’Connor, “a summons to the labor of eliminating from our lives, faithfully and perseveringly, everything in us that is opposed to the work and will of his Holy Spirit for us.
- Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus, HarperOne, copyright 2005, page 44
Posted in Manning, Brennan | Tagged Edward O'Connor, Gospel, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ | Leave a Comment »
February 9, 2010 by Stuart Williams
When the author of Hebrews enjoins the reader, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2), he not only gives a simple prescription for Christian transparency but insists on a reappraisal of one’s whole value system, understanding that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:34)
- Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus, HarperOne, copyright 2005, page 40
Posted in Manning, Brennan | Tagged Hebrews 12, Luke 12, Transparency | Leave a Comment »
February 8, 2010 by Stuart Williams
Often our preoccupation with the three most basic human desires – security, pleasure and power – is the cloak that covers transparency. The endless struggle for enough money, good feelings, and prestige yields a rich harvest of worry, frustration, suspicion, anger, jealousy, anxiety, fear and resentment.
- Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus, HarperOne, copyright 2005, page 38
Posted in Manning, Brennan | Tagged Anger, Anxiety, Fear, Frustration, Jealousy, Money, Pleasure, Power, Prestige, Resentment, Security, Suspicion, Worry | Leave a Comment »
February 5, 2010 by Stuart Williams
Our puny works do not entitle us to barter with God. Everything depends on God’s good pleasure.
- Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus, HarperOne, copyright 2005, page 32
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February 5, 2010 by Stuart Williams
If we wink at the radical demands of the New Testament in our teaching and ignore the embarrassing implications of the precept of universal love, we make Christianity too easy and take away its meaning. We become as guilty as the Pharisees, ignoring the weightier matters of the difficult laws of charity, mercy, and faith while observing the positive laws of the church that are meant only as the boundaries of the Christian commitment.
- Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus, HarperOne, copyright 2005, page 27
Posted in Manning, Brennan | Tagged Charity, Christianity, Faith, Mercy, New Testament, Pharisees | Leave a Comment »
February 4, 2010 by Stuart Williams
The New Testament is relevant only if we grasp the fundamental meaning of the radical demands of the gospel while at the same time understanding that we can never completely fulfill them.
- Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus, HarperOne, copyright 2005, page 25
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February 4, 2010 by Stuart Williams
The church in all its structures must be a sign of Christ’s love raised up to the poor. In passing over this painful sentence, the church itself has become poor, as well as too unsure and unconvinced to preach the gospel with clarity and vision, and too childishly attached to the bric-a-brac of honors, the double-talk of diplomacy, the degrading favors of the rich, the idolatry of structures and the price of place.
- Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus, HarperOne, copyright 2005, page 23
Posted in Manning, Brennan | Tagged Christ's Love, Church | Leave a Comment »