Thoughts on a Ragamuffin...

It's really to early to say, but I think that 'The Ragamuffin Gospel' by Brennan Manning is going to be one of my favourite books. I have been searching for good reading material lately, and have not been in a reading mood for a long spell. I sat down yesterday to read the first chapter, and I was enthralled right there. I haven't experience such honesty from a writer in a long time. He explained the loss of sight in our church in the present age, how we have become saturated with the stories of successful living, health and wealth, and we turn our backs on the 'sinners'. It's an eye opening book to the extent of God's amazing love, or as Rich Mullins called it, a "reckless, raging fury". It blows away the loopholes and red tape in Christianity, and brings those who can see it to their knees. We stare at it in the face, and we are awed. We can only kneel in silence. It should blow us away.
And it should give us more than an experience. It should put a spark in our hearts for seeing the need of the world. The hipocrisy in the Christian Church has been slowly growing, and hearts are steadily turning cold. They don't see Jesus as the radical, status quo shattering leader that he was. They have reduced Him to a Bible story-telling sunday school teacher. The church has become to used to the world, and in doing so, have become foreign to Christ.
If we see Christ in the right context, we see that He is in truth more relevant than anything in this world. The 'reckless raging fury' is like a fire, and when an individual catches that fire, they burn with an intensity so incredible that nothing could stop it. Not the wrong doings of a sinner in a slum of a downtown, not the hating of religion in a dark heart, not even His own church. His grace steps over bounds, and overwhelms everything in its path. And in the end, if we are still alive, we will be so changed that we will be like new creatures. Like fire again, when ore is put into the fire, it flames up, and it melts under the awesome heat that pressurizes it every second. It is completely changed, but when it is finished, the impurities have completely melted away, and the refined metal is what remains. So it should be with all of us who claim Christ as our savior and defender.
Ok, wow, I've gone on a long time about this book, and I've only read the first couple chapters! I may have gotten off of it's subject matter a bit, but the core ideas are the same. I think if we can understand this idea, then we will have a purpose so great, we will never want to look back.