Excerpt From “Ruthless Trust”
“Naturally, the risk-takers are unnerving to the palace guards, who are threatened by anyone who trusts in God rather than the law. The latter tend to despise men and women who are not as cautious as they. They elevate themselves above the sinner and the nonconformist. Because of this reliance on self, coupled with a lack of self-knowledge, the legalists render themselves incapable of receiving grace; they do not and dare not live by trust in a loving God. They shake their heads, invoke hallowed traditions, and gratuitously employ their most potent and cruel weapon: guilt-tripping. Threatened by the freedom of anyone who trusts in God rather than the law, legalists warn of dire consequences and howl like a wolf pack in the night.
The disciple, however, no longer plagued by the desire to please others and valuing God’s approval more than the disapproval of humans, moves on with eyes fixed on Jesus, “the author and pioneer of our trust” (Heb. 12:2).”
—Brendan Manning – Excerpt from “Ruthless Trust: The Ragamuffin’s Path To God”
