It is beautiful and challenging, but most of all it is Christ-centered.

Manning shares powerful personal experiences and puts forward thoughts to help us remember that "Christ loves you as you are and not as you should be." More than that, he gives thought and guidance into more than religious "rituals."

How do we approach others if we are written over with the signature of Jesus? More importantly, if we are to be written over with the signature of Jesus, how do we realize Jesus?

I can never express my full appreciation and the impact of Mannings thoughts. To give you a taste, here are a few of his words . . .

"Good Friday reminds us that we are not going to be helped by power, only b God's laying aside his power for love us . . . The Christ of the New Testament is not the God of the philosophers, speaking with detachment about the Supreme Being. We do not expect to find the Supreme Being with spit on his face. It jars us to discover that the invitation Jesus issues is, Don't weep for me; join me. The life I have planned for you is a Christian life, much like the life I led."

In another chapter,

"The gospel of Jesus Christ is no Pollyanna tale for the neutral--it is a cutting knife, rolling thunder, and convulsive earthquake in the human spirit. The Word should force us to reassess the entire direction of our lives. But in the words of Bonhoeffer, many Christians 'have gathered like ravens around the carcass of cheap grace and there have drunk the poison which has killed the following of Christ.'"

"Incredible as it may sound, the Word itself has become a source of division and self-righteousness. Jesus said that the foremost sign of discipleship would be our love for one another . . . His teaching is unequivocal here. We would be known as his followers not because we are chaste, celibate, honest, sober, or respectable; not because we are church-going, Bible-toting, or Psalm-singing. Rather, we would be recognized as disciples primarily by our deep and delicate respect for one another, our cordial love impregnated with reverence for the sacred dimension of the human personality."

"Jesus not only is the center of the gospel but of our entire Christian life. . . . I remind ever follower of Jesus that discipleship means nothing less than being ready to obey Christ as unconditionally as the first disciples. Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes. Never confuse success in ministry or knowledge of the Bible or mastery of the Christian principles and ideas without holiness and authentic discipleship. They may well be the corruption of discipleship if your life is not hidden with Christ in God."

Manning's words are powerful; Always pointing to Christ of the Gospels. ( )

This book gives us a look at Jesus that is very different than what many teach about Jesus. We are asked to "The greatest need for our time is for the church to become what it has seldom been: the body of Christ with its face to the world, love others regardless of religion or culture, pouring it self out of a life of service, offering hope to a frightened world, and presenting itself as a real alternative to the existing arrangement." ( )

This is simply an incredible book. Living in faith as opposed to religion is a much needed message in today's Christian culture. Despite this topic being the subject of other books, this is one that stands head and shoulders above all others. ( )