For those who have been working through our series of messages on grace, I want to suggest to you the book The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. I’ve read this book as I have prepared for the series, and found it to be incredibly refreshing. Since I came from a very churched background, it is so easy to get comfortable with my goodness, but this book has reminded me that I am always in desperate need of grace. This book will be a good read for two groups of people. First, those who are hurting, broken, and struggling in their faith. In the introduction to the book, Manning says, “The Ragamuffin Gospel was written for the bedraggled, beat-up, and burnt-out… It is for the the wobbly and weak-kneed who know they don’t have it all together and are too proud to accept the handout of amazing grace.” The book will be greatly encouraging to those who love Jesus, but just can’t seem to pull their lives together.
The second group that will find the book helpful are those who have a tendency to miss grace because they are working so hard to have it all together. The book will be a terrific reminder of our complete helplessness before God and the reality of God’s great grace.
I mentioned the book a couple weeks ago, and have quoted from it during the series, but hadn’t published anything referencing the book. Hope you enjoy! God bless.
