‘rag·a·muf·fin: a ragged often disreputable person.’ WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY
Prior to 1991, I had never heard of the word ‘ragamuffin.’ But when I came across the word, well, it changed my life. I’m not really seeking to be dramatic with this, but it truly did change my life.
As one who spent a better part of his life in the church, I understood all too well the idea of a ‘performance-driven faith.’ If you’re not familiar with that phraseology, it simply means this…
When I’m doing the things that I know God wants me to be doing… reading my Bible, praying, going to church, serving, giving money to support the church, and avoiding the really bad sins, well, God is happy with me. But, when I’m not doing any of those things, well, God is not all that happy with me.
In short, my ‘spiritual performance’ drives God’s feelings toward me. My actions can cause God to love me more or conversely, my actions might cause God to love me less.
As you might imagine, those who live by a performance-driven faith mentality, well, they will be not only incredibly and constantly insecure in where they stand with God, but they will also be 100% exhausted.
No one taught me to live a performance-driven faith.
I never heard a message preached teaching that God wanted me to perform for Him and when I did well, He was pleased and when I was failing miserably, He wanted nothing to do with me. Never heard that sermon preached by anyone anywhere.
To be honest, I have no idea where I picked up the idea of ‘performing’ for God, but I did and it dictated much of my walk with God, that is until I heard the word RAGAMUFFIN in 1991.
This was a book that God used PROFOUNDLY in my life, a book written by a former Franciscan priest, named Brennan Manning, to help set me free from my performance-driven faith ways.
This summer, I’m going to make the most of these devotional thoughts to share with you my journey towards FREEDOM from a performance-driven faith. It took a long time to UNLEARN what I had learned, but God used the words of Brennan Manning to help me see and understand grace, unconditional love, and God’s heart for Ragamuffins like me.
Whether you’ve battled or are battling a performance-driven faith, I hope that this will be an incredible summer of unlearning all that is not true about God so that we might learn and embrace wholeheartedly the amazing truths of the Ragamuffin Gospel.
