Trust is that rare and priceless treasure that wins us the affection of our heavenly Father.
Brennan ManningRead
In my experience, self-hatred is the dominant malaise crippling Christians and stifling their growth in the Holy Spirit.
Interpretation
Self-hatred undermines personal and spiritual growth among Christians.
Brennan Manning emphasizes that self-hatred is a pervasive issue that affects the spiritual development of Christians, inhibiting their ability to fully engage with and grow in their faith. He suggests that this negative self-perception can hinder one's relationship with the Holy Spirit, leading to a cycle of despair and stagnation in spiritual life.
In practice
In a sermon about overcoming personal struggles, one might mention this quote to highlight the importance of self-love.
Trust is that rare and priceless treasure that wins us the affection of our heavenly Father.
The sinners to whom Jesus directed His messianic ministry were not those who skipped morning devotions or Sunday church. His ministry was to those whom society considered real sinners. They had done nothing to merit salvation. Yet they opened themselves to the gift that was offered them. On the other hand, the self-righteous placed their trust in the works of the Law and closed their hearts to the message of grace.
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.
Do you honestly believe God likes you, not just loves you because theologically God has to love you?
Suffering, failure, loneliness, sorrow, discouragement, and death will be part of your journey, but the Kingdom of God will conquer all these horrors. No evil can resist grace forever.
For Ragamuffins, God's name is Mercy. We see our darkness as a prized possession because it drives us into the heart of God. Without mercy our darkness would plunge us into despair - for some, self-destruction. Time alone with God reveals the unfathomable depths of the poverty of the spirit. We are so poor that even our poverty is not our own: It belongs to the mysterium tremendum of a loving God.
Don't seek to have events happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do happen, and all will be well with you.
This paranoid Islam, which blames outsider, 'infidels', for all the ills of Muslim societies, and whose proposed remedy is the closing of those societies to the rival project of modernity, is presently the fastest growing version of Islam in the world.
Observation is so wide awake, and facts are being so rapidly added to the sum of human experience, that it appears as if the theorizer would always be in arrears, and were doomed forever to arrive at imperfect conclusion; but the power to perceive a law is equally rare in all ages of the world, and depends but little on the number of facts observed.
We all have to die a bit every now and then and usually it's so gradual that we end up more alive than ever. Infinitely old and infinitely alive.
One is not righteous who does much, but the one who, without work, believes much in Christ. The law says, 'Do this,' and it is never done. Grace says, 'Believe in this,' and everything is already done.
Morality must keep up with technology because if a person is faced with the choice of being moral and dead or immoral and alive, they'll choose life everytime.
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