Brennan Manning Quotes
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In human beings, love is a quality, a high-prized virtue; in God, love is His identity.
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Be daring enough to be different, humble enough to make mistakes, wild enough to be burnt in the fire of love, real enough to make others see how phony you are.
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To be alive is to be broken; to be broken is to stand in need of grace.
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Without exposure to potential failure, there is no risk.
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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.
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In my experience, self-hatred is the dominant malaise crippling Christians and stifling their growth in the Holy Spirit.
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One of my realizations in such an earthy atmosphere was that many of the burning theological issues in the church were neither burning nor theological.
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The forgiveness of God is gratuitous liberation from guilt. Paradoxically, the conviction of personal sinfulness becomes the occasion of encounter with the merciful love of the redeeming God. "There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner repenting..." (Luke 15:7). In his brokenness, the repentant prodigal knew an intimacy with his father that his sinless, self-righteous brother would never know.
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The only kind of love that helps anyone grow is unconditional love.
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Jesus comes not for the super-spiritual but for the wobbly and the weak-kneed who know they don’t have it all together, and who are not too proud to accept the handout of amazing grace.
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The men and women who are truly filled with light are those who have gazed deeply into the darkness of their own imperfect existence.
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Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try and find something or someone that it cannot cover. Grace is enough...
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Childlike surrender and trust, I believe, is the defining spirit of authentic discipleship.
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Authentic Christianity should lead to maturity, personality, and reality. It should fashion whole men and women living lives of love and communion.
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If asked whether I am finally letting God love me, just as I am, I would answer, 'No, but I'm trying.
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Don't try to understand it. You won't succeed. Don't try to see it. You can't. Try to live it, and you will be living out of the center.
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No man can adequately reach and explain a single word of God with all his words.
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There is the "you" that people see and then there is the "rest of you". Take some time and craft a picture of the "rest of you." This could be a drawing, in words, even a song. Just remember that the chances are good it will be full of paradox and contradictions.
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We miss Jesus' point entirely when we use His words as weapons against others.
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We must go out into a desert of some kind your backyard will do and come into a personal experience of the awesome love of God.
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The story goes that a public sinner was excommunicated and forbidden entry to the church. He took his woes to God. 'They won't let me in, Lord, because I am a sinner.' 'What are you complaining about?' said God. 'They won't let Me in either.
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Letting ourselves be loved by God is more important than loving God.