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The litmus test of our love for God is our love of neighbor.

Brennan Manning

Jesus reveals a God who does not demand but who gives; who does not oppress but who raises up; who does not wound but who heals; who does not condemn but forgives.
BRENNAN MANNING

Demand Forgiveness Generosity God Healing Oppression Reveal Wound
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.
BRENNAN MANNING

Dare Different Enough Fire Humble Love Mistake Phone Yourself
Ruthless trust ultimately comes down to this: faith in the person of Jesus and hope in his promise.
BRENNAN MANNING

Faith Person Promise Ultimate
If in our hearts we really don’t believe that God loves us as we are, if we are still tainted by the lie that we can do something to make God love us more, we are rejecting the message of the cross.
BRENNAN MANNING

Believe Heart Love Lying Message Ourselves Rejection
To be alive is to be broken; to be broken is to stand in need of grace.
BRENNAN MANNING

Alive Break Grace Need Religious Stand
What makes the Kingdom come is heartfelt compassion: a way of tenderness that knows no frontiers, no labels, no compartmentalizing, and no sectarian divisions.
BRENNAN MANNING

Compassionate Department Division Heart Tender
The dominant characteristic of an authentic spiritual life is the gratitude that flows from trust — not only for all the gifts that I receive from God, but gratitude for all the suffering. Because in that purifying experience, suffering has often been the shortest path to intimacy with God.
BRENNAN MANNING

Authentic Character Dominant Experience Flow God Gratitude Intimacy Life Purity Spiritual Trust
A saint is not someone who is good but who experiences the goodness of God.
BRENNAN MANNING

Difference Experience God Goodness
Our culture says that ruthless competition is the key to success. Jesus says that ruthless compassion is the purpose of our journey.
BRENNAN MANNING

Compassionate Competition Culture Journey Key Ourselves Purpose Success
Jesus comes for sinners, for those outcast and those caught up in squalid choices and failed dreams.
BRENNAN MANNING

Choice Dreams Failure God Sin
The men and women who are truly filled with light are those who have gazed deeply into the darkness of their own imperfect existence.
BRENNAN MANNING

Darkness Existence Imperfection Light Man True Woman
I could more easily contain Niagara Falls in a teacup than I can comprehend the wild, uncontainable love of God.
BRENNAN MANNING

Easy God Love Myself Wild
I have been seized by the power of a great affection.
BRENNAN MANNING

Affection Greatness Myself Power
Tragedy is that our attention centers on what people are not, rather than on what they are and who they might become.
BRENNAN MANNING

Attention Be Yourself People Tragedy
There is an essential connection between experiencing God, loving God, and trusting God. You will trust God only as much as you love him. And you will love him to the extent you have touched him, rather that he has touched you.
BRENNAN MANNING

Connection Essential Experience God Love Touch Yourself
Craving clarity, we attempt to eliminate the risk of trusting God. Fear of the unknown path stretching ahead of us destroys childlike trust in the Father’s active goodness and unrestricted love.
BRENNAN MANNING

Active Clarity Crave Destroy Elimination Father Restriction Risk
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.
BRENNAN MANNING

Complaint Funny God Myself Public Sin Story
Childlike surrender and trust, I believe, is the defining spirit of authentic discipleship.
BRENNAN MANNING

Authentic Believe Childhood Discipline Spirit Surender Trust
we unwittingly project onto God our own attitudes and feelings toward ourselves… But we cannot assume that He feels about us the way we feel about ourselves — unless we love ourselves compassionately, intensely, and freely.
BRENNAN MANNING

Assumption Attitude Compassionate Freedom God Projection
We have been given God in our souls and Christ in our flesh. We have the power to believe where others deny, to hope where others despair, to love where others hurt.
BRENNAN MANNING

Believe Body Despair God Hurt Love Presence Soul
Our huffing and puffing to impress God, our scrambling for brownie points, our thrashing about trying to fix ourselves while hiding our pettiness and wallowing in guilt are nauseating to God and are a flat denial of the gospel of grace.
BRENNAN MANNING

God Grace Impression Scripture Try
Our hearts of stone become hearts of flesh when we learn where the outcast weeps.
BRENNAN MANNING

Cry Heart Learning Stone
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.
BRENNAN MANNING

Acknowledgement God Grace Learning Live Meaning Myself Shadow
The only kind of love that helps anyone grow is unconditional love.
BRENNAN MANNING

Growth Help Kind Love Unconditional
On the last day, Jesus will look us over not for medals, diplomas, or honors, but for scars.
BRENNAN MANNING

Day Medal Ourselves Scars Search
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.
BRENNAN MANNING

Desert Experience God Kind Love Personal
Faithfulness requires the courage to risk everything on Jesus, the willingness to keep growing, and the readiness to risk failure throughout our lives.
BRENNAN MANNING

Courage Failure Faith Growth Live Ourselves Risk Willing

The litmus test of our love for God is our love of neighbor.

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The litmus test of our love for God is our love of neighbor.

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