Holy Week Book Review: "The Importance of Being Foolish" by Brennan Manning

Sometimes I struggle with reviewing particular books because all I want to do is share out of context quotes. I usually resist this temptation but NOT THIS DAY! Just for SOME context, you can see my previous posts about the awesome and complicated Brennan Manning here and here. And the bible verse from which this title takes it's name (there are a couple of options, but I think it's this one most predominately) is 1 Corinthians 1:18 "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

And now that there is a teeny bit of context let's go to the text onslaughts!

"Consider how our churches have explored and exploited our need to replace the numbness in our lives with a passion for something, anything...We have created cathartic experiences filled with weeping and dancing in the Spirit that leave us with the sense that we have touched God but that fail to give us the sense that God has touched us. We run to the churches where the message feels good and where we feel energized and uplifted - but never challenged or convicted".

If the church that you go to never makes you take a hard look at your life and see what is out of line with what God wants, there might be a problem......

This next quote is referencing how Peter denied knowing Jesus during his trials before the crucifixion.

"Peter's betrayal of the Master, like so many of our own moral relapses and refusals to walk with the LORD, was not a terminal failure but an occasion for painful personal growth into the person God intended him to be".

We are going to mess up, sometimes in really big ways. God knows this and uses these experiences to have us grow in him. If he abandoned his children at the first sign of weakness He would be even busier than he already is.

And ending with a Mother Theresa quote:

"It is not how much we do, but how much love we put into what we are doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving".


Everyone - Thanks for spending another Holy Week with me on the blog. Remember to do small things with great amounts of love - which doesn't JUST mean letting your sibling have the last Cadbury egg. Blessed Easter to you all.