In all the world we will never find a love like what we receive from God. I knew that before I read The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning because in all the world I have only met a few people that even came close to God’s ability to accept me and know me and love me even partially as well as He loves me. This book celebrates this truth and encourages us to reach out to our broken, imperfect neighbors and love each other anyway because it is what God does. We are all given the opportunity to be un-entitled beggars able to receive God’s mercy.
“My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.” Brennan Manning
When we accept our humanity, we declare our freedom from hunger for power or acceptance from others because we are more secure in ourself. We no longer fear criticism, because we accept our limitations. When we trust in God, who loves us consistently and faithfully nurtures us to be free disciples we are able to foster other loving people.
Jesus hung out with ragamuffins. In Jewish culture, to share a meal is to declare friendship. In bible times, sinners (ragamuffins) were outcasts and it was illegal to mix with them so Jesus was breaking the law and breaking the structure of Jewish society. Jesus was the first to treat ragamuffins with dignity and show them they were acceptable to God. :
- the poor
- the lepers
- the blind
- the hungry
- the lame
- sinners
- prostitutes
- tax collectors
- the persecuted
- the downtrodden
- the captives
- those possessed with unclean spirits
- all who labor
- all who are heavy burdened
- the people that didn’t know the law
- the crowds
- the little ones
- the least
- the last
- the lost sheep of the house of Isreal
Imposters in the Spirit always prefer appearance to reality: Self deception sells our sinfulness and prevents us from seeing that we are all ragamuffins. The self-righteous place their trust in the works of the law and closed their hearts to the gift and message of grace.
The poor is spirit (Matthew 5:3) are all those who rely entirely on the mercy of God and accept the gospel of grace. The poor in spirit are like children. Children are unselfish and incapable of pretense — they just accept the gift of the kingdom of God in faith. But we are called to be like children. Children had no worth in the bible times. So to be like a child is a big call. Christians must be willing to be totally humbled to accept oneself as unimportant and of little account. If we maintain that open-mindedness of children, we challenge fixed ideas of established structures — even our own. An open-mind believer realizes that in reality, truth and Jesus Christ are incredibly open-ended.
“Honesty is such a precious commodity that its seldom found in the world or the church. Honesty requires the truthfulness to admit the attachment and addictions that control our attention, dominate our consciousness, and function as false gods.” Brennan Manning
Repentance is not just what we do for forgiveness — it is an expression of gratitude because forgiveness can’t be earned. Once forgiven, our past is irrelevant before God. God is in the now — in the present. God is not our enemy. He is not intent on trying, tempting or testing us. He does not promote suffering and pain. Jesus teaches us that a relationship with God drives out fear, mistrust, anxiety and guilt. A true relationship is hopeful, joyous, trusting and compassionate. Human love is a faint shadow of God’s love because of it’s passion and emotion — it is a thin echo of the love of God. Authentic Christianity leads us to treat others with love and communion. It should lead the Christian to maturity, personality and reality, and reverence for the mystery of humanity in spirituality.
Jesus told us not to fear because fear was useless. He told us to trust and have joy and share this with others.
Some Christians want to be slaves. It is easier to let others make the decisions or rely on the law than to be truly honest with God and accept our limitations in religion and the gift of grace.
At this end of this book are 19 inspirational bible studies. I wish that I had been doing them while I read the book. Since I think this is a book that is to be read again and I again, I will keep this in mind when I read it next time. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to grow in their relationship with Christ and their understanding of theology.
I got this book from my personal collection. You can get your own copy of The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning on Amazon.
Read My Review on GoodReads:
The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have tried to read this book for over 20 years. In fact this is not the first copy of this book I have bought. Now was the time for this book and I am glad I finally read it because over the years, in my personal study of the bible, I have come to find that my beliefs, which seem to be different that what I was taught growing up, are exactly what are in this book. I am thankful that I can never earn the mercy and forgiveness I have got from God. I love that God is so in love with me that I can learn that kind of love from Him. That I can even try to share that kind of love with others. I know that my version of love is just a shadow of His, but I am glad to be free from the law and to live in His grace. This book is such a gift.
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Feel free to leave your comments below!
My name is Summer. That is how you can call me. I hope that I am a blessing to you. I am not perfect. I will fall again. But I am forgiven. For anyone reading this that isn’t a Christian, unapologetically, I am a Christian, but I believe there is room for lots of beliefs and religions in the world. It is not my intent to offend people with different beliefs than I have and I would be open to open-minded conversations with no goals of changing anyone’s mind, but sharing information. If you are interested in becoming a Christian…Do you know Jesus? Do want the Holy Spirit to fill you and give you understanding and salvation? Ask Him. Want someone to pray with you? Contact me.
If you would like to know Jesus as your friend, but want to make this amazing commitment by yourself please pray something like this: Thank you Jesus that You are the Son of God, the God that created heaven and earth. Thank you Jesus that You came to earth in the form of a man so that You would be able to empathize with my humanity. Thank You that You did this in order to fulfill the promises You made at the foundation of the world. I realize that I am a sinner and do things that hurt myself and keep myself away from you. Thank You that You died for my sins so that You could defeat death and bring me into Your life. Please forgive me. I ask You to be Lord of my life. I ask you to heal my hurts and show me what my new life, empowered by You looks like. Thank You for Your mercy.
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