16 quotes
The tragedy is that our attention centers on what people are not, rather than on what they are and who they might become.
The Wisdom of Tenderness: What happens when God's firece mercy transforms our lives (2002)
I have been seized by the power of a great affection.
The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)
Faithfulness requires the courage to risk everything on Jesus, the willingness to keep growing, and the readiness to risk failure throughout our lives.
The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)
Those who have the disease called Jesus will never be cured.
The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus (1986)
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.
The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)
To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark. In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God’s grace means.
The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)
Jesus was victorious not because he never flinched, talked back, or questioned, but having flinched, talked back, and questioned, he remained faithful.
The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)
Whenever I allow anything but tenderness and compassion to dictate my response to life
Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging (1994)
Do the truth quietly without display.
Reflections for Ragamuffins: Daily Devotions from the Writings of Brennan Manning (1998)
None of us has ever seen a motive. Therefore, we don’t know we can’t do anything more than suspect what inspires the action of another. For this good and valid reason, we’re told not to judge.
The Wisdom of Tenderness: What happens when God's firece mercy transforms our lives (2002)
The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.
God not only loves me as I am, but also knows me as I am. Because of this I don’t need to apply spiritual cosmetics to make myself presentable to Him. I can accept ownership of my poverty and powerlessness and neediness.
The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)
To affirm a person is to see the good in them that they cannot see in themselves and to repeat it in spite of appearances to the contrary. Please, this is not some Pollyanna optimism that is blind to the reality of evil, but rather like a fine radar system that is tuned in to the true, the good, and the beautiful.
The Furious Longing of God (2009)
The deeper we grow in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the poorer we become – the more we realize that everything in life is a gift. The tenor of our lives becomes one of humble and joyful thanksgiving. Awareness of our poverty and ineptitude causes us to rejoice in the gift of being called out of darkness into wondrous light and translated into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.
The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)
The Christ within who is our hope of glory is not a matter of theological debate or philosophical speculation. He is not a hobby, a part-time project, a good theme for a book, or a last resort when all human effort fails. He is our life, the most real fact about us. He is the power and wisdom of God dwelling within us.
Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging (1994)
When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.
The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)