Thursday, May 25, 2006

the importance of being foolish


Here are a couple quotes I appreciated from Brennan Manning's book:

"Jesus's self-awareness and unflagging zeal in his ministry must be seen in direct and unceasing relation to his interior growing intimacy with the Father. We must not lose sight of this logical link: the primacy of mission and his consuming zeal for proclaiming the kingdom of God derive not from theological reflection, the desire to edify others, trendy spirituality, or a loose sense of goodwill toward the world. Its wellspring is God's holiness and Jesus's self-awareness of his relation to God."

"Inattentiveness to the holy destroys openness to the Spirit."

3 comments:

The Anonymous Human said...

That first quote really gets me.

I feel like that a lot of times. I might love people, but it's because I'm supposed to love people. I read my Bible, not because I really want to learn about God and how he's interacted with mankind so that maybe I might interact with him, but because a good christian does. I go to church, not to be a part of a fellowship, but because that's what we do.

D. L Moody was reported to have said, "The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him."

That statement gets me everytime.

Dustin said...

i was curious at this book. Did you think it was worth reading? I really love Brennan Manning but his books are appearing to get a little repetitive. Let me know what you thought.

bill said...

dustin,

that doesn't suprise me. a lot of authors, even good authors, get very repetitive from book to book and a lot of times even within the same book. i've not read enough manning ("ragamuffin gospel" and "lion and lamb") to feel like he was repeating stuff he'd written elsewhere. but i can say i didn't feel he was too repetitive within the book itself.
i liked it a lot. and it was a pretty simple read...didn't take long. any brand new ideas or earth shattering discoveries?? probably not. but i love his passionate heart for God and his humble approach towards faith, so i really enjoyed it.