Crazy Love by Francis Chan- Chapter 5 "Serving Leftovers to a Holy God"

As I see it, a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron; there’s no such thing. To put it plainly, churchgoers who are “lukewarm” are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven.

Wow…I read that a few times just to make sure I was reading it correctly. That is a really hard pill to swallow. To be honest with you, after reading chapter 4, I thought I might fit in the lukewarm Christian category. Now I read this and Chan has got me scared. He goes on to quote Revelation 3:15-18 (go check it out) as his reason for making this statement. Reading that part of scripture made me agree with Chan’s statement. Thinking about the churches I have been part of and the people I have seen in those churches. It really makes me nervous about the attitude we as a church body have. Are we settling to be lukewarm? If we are, does that mean we are settling for hell? I know those questions blow my mind too. I just can’t imagine that Christ-followers in general could be okay settling for that standard.
Luke 14:33 says “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” These words are in red, in a red letter bible, for those who don’t know that means that Jesus was saying them. Are we willing to give up EVERYTHING? My prayer is that I would be willing to live this out for my relationship with Christ. God has called us to a higher standard than we have set for ourselves. Let’s reach for that standard.

I do not want true believers to doubt their salvation as they read this book. In the midst of our failed attempts at loving Jesus, His grace covers us. I’m not saying that when you mess up, it means you were never really a genuine Christian in the first place. If that were true, no one would be able follow Christ.

From scripture, Chan used Lamentations 3 and 2 Corinthians 12:9 to back up this statement. I’m so glad that he uses scripture to back up his points because that is what we should be doing with everything. These two views really can make a person not really know where they stand. In the end you need to answer to God about what you have done with what He has given you. As true Christ-followers we need to be willing to answer the call of God on our lives. These are the hardest steps for anyone to take. Chan ended the chapter really well and the questions he asked are what I will leave you with now.

Are you willing to say to God that He can have whatever he wants? Do you believe that wholehearted commitment to Him is more important than any other thing or person in your life? Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people He has made?

Crazy Love by Francis Chan- Chapter 4 "Profile of the Lukewarm"

When I was in the 3rd grade I had an experience I will never forget. I don’t remember exactly how things got to this point but here is what happened. While my friends and I were talking, another guy came running over yelling my name. I turned around to see this other kid that didn’t like me. He came closer and stopped just in front of me. At that point everything seemed to slow down. I watched as his right foot began to swing toward me. When I noticed he had boots on, I knew this was going to hurt. I think we all know what happened at this point. But in case you need it said, he kicked me below the belt. I fell to the ground and started crying. (I was in 3rd grade, yes I cried.)
Well I just finished chapter 4 of Crazy Love and guess what…I was about on the ground crying again. Chan really took off the gloves and put to print some things that many Christ followers don’t want to hear. The chapter is all about exactly the title. Chan creates a list of possible ways Christ followers can be lukewarm. The thing that I love about each point he makes is that he backs it up with scripture, which is probably whatt made it all hurt so bad as I read through the chapter. For space and copyright issues I can’t type out every point that Chan makes, just another reason to pick the book up and read it yourself. I want to share two that spoke directly into my life.

Lukewarm people rarely share their faith with their neighbors, coworkers, or friends. They do not want to be rejected, nor do they want to make people uncomfortable by talking about private issues like religion. (Read Matt. 10:32-33)

Ummmmm….does anymore need to be said? That hurts. I have always known that we are supposed to share our faith. But the question I ask myself is why don’t I share it? If I believe what scripture has to say and that Christ did come to die for my sins, then shouldn’t I want to share that with everyone? Go back and click on the scripture link and read the verse. That will give you another gut check that makes it sink in even deeper. Lord, help me to be bold in my faith and willing and able to share my faith with friends, neighbors, coworkers and family.

Lukewarm people are continually concerned with playing it safe; they are slave to the god of control. This focus on safe living keeps them from sacrificing and risking for God. (Read 1 Tim. 6:17-18)

I almost had to stop reading this chapter at this point. It was getting so hard to read that I felt like putting the book down and coming back later, or skipping the rest of the chapter. What came to mind for me was when I played sports. I would risk everything to get a win whether it was football, baseball or wrestling. God has called us to sacrifice and risk things not for this world but for His eternal kingdom. I want to be known as a risk taker for the Kingdom of God. In the end the best thing we can all hear is “well done my good and faithful servant” from God.
This was two of the profiles of the lukewarm from Crazy Love. Go get the book and read the others laid out across 14 pages. It will make you realize some area that you might be living a lukewarm faith. The best part about finishing the chapter….we get a chance to grow. I don’t want to me lukewarm in my faith. I want to be on FIRE. Does that mean everything is perfect and that I’m not going to sin…..NO. My prayer is that God will help me grow and develop into the godly man, willing to risk, sacrifice and share my faith with everyone around me.

Crazy Love by Francis Chan- Chapter 3 "Crazy Love"

Wow, I just finished the third chapter of Crazy Love and I’m not really sure where to go with this post. The chapter was only ten pages long and it seems like that would be easy to write about. Well I think there was a reason the book was named after this chapter. It was very challenging and deep. I think what I will do is talk about a couple quotes from the book that really spoke to me.

Most of us, to some degree, have a difficult time understanding, believing, or accepting God’s absolute and unlimited love for us. The reasons we don’t receive, trust, or see His love vary from one person to the next, but we all miss out because of it.

Thinking about what my reasons might be for not receiving God’s amazing love is so hard and challenging in itself. There have been many things that have impacted the way I respond to God. One of the most clear in my mind is the way fellow Christians have treated me and my family. It is hard to say the Church in general has impacted my relationship with Christ but it is true. It has only been in the past few years that I have been able to realize that the Church is not God. The other thing about the Church that I always have to remind myself of: it is made of fallen people just like me. My prayer this week is going to be asking for help in receiving, trusting, and seeing God’s love in my life.

…when we love God. We naturally run to Him- frequently and zealously.

Just one sentence later Chan goes on to quote Matt. 22:37-38. Chan made a point that I have never really thought about. God never commands us to spend regular daily time with Him. He wants us to follow the command He gave in Matt. 22:37-38. Once we can figure out how to love God with all that we have, then we will have a passion and desire to spend time with Him. I’m amazed how often I will make excuses to not spend time in the Word, listening and talking to God. Chan ends the chapter with a series of questions. One really hit close to home.

Do you love this God who is everything, or do you just love everything He gives you?

Thoughts?

Crazy Love by Francis Chan- Chapter 2 "You Might Not Finish This Chapter"

When I read the title of chapter 2, I had two thoughts. Either I’m not going to finish the chapter because I don’t agree with what he is saying or my life will end before I finish. Well reading this time I was not as shocked as I was the first time I read it, when I realized he was talking about life ending. Francis Chan wrote:

On the average day, we live caught up in ourselves. On the average day, we don’t consider God very much. On the average day, we forget that our life truly is a vapor.

I’m going to be honest about something for just a minute. My name is Jeremy Logue and I’m addicted to making To-Do lists. Currently, I have at least 4 to-do lists; one on my Itouch, one on a notebook in my bag, one on my desk here at home and one on my desk at work. Often times those lists involve things that are months away from being done or have already been completed. So you may be asking, what does this have to do with the chapter? Well, Chan pointed out the fact that often times we are so preoccupied with ourselves we forget about God. The quote above from the book really makes me think about the idea of making lists. Don’t get me wrong, lists are a good way to be organized, but we need to FOCUS our lives on God and ways we can glorify Him. We really don’t know how long we have on this earth (James 4:13-14).

So many of us think and live like the movie of life is all about us.

Read that quote from the book again. I had to read it like four times to realize the complexity and how much information one little sentence could hold. When I continued to read Chan helped explain just how complex it was. I will not go completely into it on here but he laid the ground work to understand just how focused we should be on GOD! Grab the book and read page 43 to understand this concept
more.

What did I take from the chapter as a whole?
I need to learn to rely on God and realize that He is the one in control. Our time here on earth is not about creating a movie for ourselves but playing a role in God’s movie. Also I’m learning that no matter what is going on in my life, I should be working to glorify God. At the end of my life I don’t want to be known for how selfish I lived my life, but for how well I did living my life for Christ (1 Corinthians 3:13-15).

I challenge you to pick up this book (Crazy Love by Fancis Chan) and allow God to speak to you through the words he has given Chan.

Crazy Love by Francis Chan- Chapter 1 "Stop Praying"

So I started reading the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan for the second time in the past year. This time around I'm going to write a post about each chapter of the book to help me think about what I'm reading. God really spoke to me through the words that Francis Chan wrote in this book the first time through, so I expect Him to do the same this time.

There was so much information packed into the short chapter of 14 pages. When I first read it, Chan seem to jump back and forth between topics. This second time around I realized it was all related. Stop praying....What? If I had to summarize the chapter in one sentence it would be...God is so amazingly big and unfathomable that we need to stop talking and listen to what He has to say during prayer.

There were two things you talked about that really spoke to me:

Francis Chan wrote:

"There is an epidemic of spiritual amnesia going around, and none of us is immune. No matter how many fascinating details we learn about God's creation, no matter how many pictures we see of His galaxies, and no matter how many sunsets we watch, we still forget."

I forget stuff all the time, you can ask my wife. A perfect example of this happened just recently. A guy at work called me and asked that I do him a favor. Well I hung up the phone and read an email, in that amount of time I forgot to do what he asked. It is so crazy to think that we can actually forget who God really is. He has done so much to show His power and love, not only in creation but by sending His Son to die for our sins. I so often have to remind myself that I need to love God because of who He is and not out of obligation. Now if I can just remember to think of this each time God shows me just how creative He is.

Chan went on to give five characteristics of God that I need to remind myself of on a daily bases. They are listed below:

God is holy. Exodus 3:14
God is eternal. Psalms 102:12,27
God is all-knowing. Hebrews 4:13
God is all-powerful. Colossians 1:16
God is fair and just.

When I first read these things here was my thought..."This is so basic, get into the deeper stuff". Then it hit me as I read them the second time, I don't think about these characteristics of God in my daily life. To be honest, there are times I live my life as if God doesn’t have these characteristics. God is all-knowing and God is all-powerful are the two characteristics of God in this list that I most commonly forget in my daily life. He sees EVERYTHING we do and He is in COMPLETE control. In the end of the first chapter my thoughts go back to the first paragraph. We need to stop praying in the sense of always just talking to God but listen to the holy, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, fair and just Lord of our lives.