Ragged - by Gretchen Ronnevik (Paperback)

About the Book

With grace and wisdom, Ragged lifts the burden off personal spiritual performance for God, teaching us instead how to depend on the work of Christ for us. Keeping a firm grasp on law and gospel distinctions in scripture, what are we supposed to do with spiritual disciplines like: rest, scripture reading and memorization, prayer, fasting, meditation, confession, generosity, lament, and discipleship? Christ is for us, not only as the author, but the perfecter of our faith as well.

Book Synopsis

You've tried it all before. You've done the Bible reading plans until you reached the book of Numbers. You have prayer journals that are half full. You hunger for a deep, meaningful spiritual life, but are so weary of your own personal inconsistencies and life interruptions that it almost feels hypocritical to try again. It often feels like spiritual disciplines are for the privileged few theologians who contemplate God's word while sitting in their studies. But God doesn't ask for your performance in exchange for his love.

It's time to release the feeling of failure from your spiritual life and redeem the promised peace in the midst of a life full of exhaustion and interruptions. It's time to recognize its all about dependence on God. Ragged will give you a paradigm shifting approach to daily devotions. God intends to grow us in his love through all of of life's disruptions. Using scripture, you'll see how your relationship with God--from start to finish--is not dependent on your works but on the works of Christ.

From the Back Cover

When we mistake spiritual disciplines for to-dos, time slots on our schedule, or Instagram-able moments, we miss the benefits of Christ's continual and constant work for us. In Ragged, Gretchen Ronnevik aims to reclaim spiritual disciplines as good gifts given by our good Father instead of heavy burdens of performance carried by the Christian.

Only when we recognize our failures to maintain God's commands do we also realize the benefit of our dependence on his promises. Gretchen uses this distinction on law and gospel, presented throughout Scripture, to guide readers through spiritual disciplines including prayer, meditation, Scripture reading, and discipleship among others.

Despite our best efforts, the good news is that spiritual disciplines have less to do with what we bring before God and more about who Christ is for us, not only as the author but also as the perfector of our faith.

About the Author

Gretchen Ronnevik loves rich theology rooted in real life. She created Gospel Mentoring, a training program for intergenerational discipleship and is the co-host of Freely Given a podcast on living free in Christ. She has published articles at 1517, The Gospel Coalition, and Women's Ministry Toolbox and regularly speaks at events. She lives on the family farm in Minnesota with her husband and six children.