Crazy Love

Would you describe yourself as totally in love with Jesus Christ? Or do the words halfhearted, lukewarm, and partially committed fit better?

These are questions posed in the book by author Francis Chan. He sets up the premise that present day Christians are lukewarm. Revelation talks about what God thinks of lukewarm Christians (Rev 3)...

This book has been the best seller on the Christian Business Association's list for several months and for good reason. Crazy Love is a simple, yet profound read. The ideas posed by the author aren't really new ones, but need to be reinforced for our "Christian culture."

A few things in the book really caught my attention. In one section of the book Chan talks about the parable of the sower throwing the seed among the path and cautions us that we may not be good soil:

I think most American churchgoers are the soil that chokes the seed because of all the thorns. Thorns are anything that distracts us from God. When we want God and a bunch of other stuff, then that means we have thorns in our soil. A relationship with God simply cannot grow when money, sins, activities, favorite sports teams, addictions, or commitments are piled on top of it.

Most of us have too much in our lives. As David Goetz writes, "Too much of the good life ends up being toxic, deforming us spiritually." A lot of things are good by thmeselves, but all of it together keeps us from living healthy, fruitful lives for God.

We, I, fill our lives with so much "stuff" that spending time with God becomes something we do, not something we live for. There are so many distractions and working full time in ministry is one of them for me. I want to be good soil and totally in love with Jesus. That truly is crazy love. The world cannot understand it but I want more of it!

Psalm 63 and praise

Psalm 63 is my favorite Psalm. I am going through a difficult time with work right now and this Psalm reminds me to focus on what is important. David wrote this Psalm while he was in the wilderness fleeing from Absalom.

There isn't a lot of time for much of anything after working extremely long days. The frustration, disappointment, and exhaustion are all taking its toll on me. I need to make my time with God a priority. My personal relationship with God will outlast these next three months.Despite the difficult time right now I am going to praise God because He alone is worthy. I know that He will bring us through this.

Psalm 63

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld you power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I love,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.

My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches on the night.
Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

They who seek my life will be destroyed;
they will go down to the depths of the earth.
They will be given over to the sword and become food for the jackals.

But the king will rejoice in God;
all who swear by God's name will praise him,
while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

God gave-unfailing love

If God is love and love is God, what is love?

Love is a lot of things.Any word, situation, experience we have to describe love is inadequate when compared to the awesome love of God. Our finite minds cannot comprehend it. Love is indescribable. At times we think we know, but we can't. God is love.

God loves us unconditionally and he wants to! God gave and still gives unfailing love.

We don't deserve it, we can't earn it. All we can do is attempt to live, do, be something in return that we can't fully comprehend.


If God gave us something that is unfailing, this love, it would help to understand it. The trouble is that the more we delve into what love is and the more we think we begin to understand it, the more we realize that we can't explain what it is outside fo the perfect love we have in Jesus. And even then we accept it, but do we truly understand it? If we did we would live different lives. We are limited to understanding how big, how great, how deep this love is for us. This love is impossible to grasp, yet is perfect in the simplicity of what it is. Ephesians 3:19 tells us that this love surpasses all knowledge as it is unknowable, but at the same time cannot be completely known.

1 John 4:8-10 tells us that to know God one must love. If one doesn't love one does not know God. But we don't really know what love is so how can we know God?

The scripture goes on to tell us that love is what God did for us--he gave his only (unique) Son. In this way we see love modeled for us. We can't fully grasp it, but we see it in action and can go and do likewise.

Love isn't something that we do for God. Love is what God did for us when he allowed Jesus to dies on the cross for our sins. Our response is the natural out flowing of this love from our spiritual soul to our material sole.

In order to know God one must love. If one does not love, one cannot know God. The Amplified Bible tells us that not only does one not know God if they don't love, but they never knew God. This shows us that this love is unconditional--it is continuous. Truly loving God isn't a phase in life, there isn't a gap during rebellious teenage years--it continues. Real love, true love never ends. It's big. It's worth living for, fighting for, and dying for. That's what Jesus did for us.

When do we "know" someone? When does a person for from being a stranger, to having recognition in your memory, to being an acquaintance, to being "known" by you? To love God isn't to have him as someone you recognize on the street every now and again or even to talk to him occasionally as an acquaintance. To know God is to have a relationship with Him. He who does not have an intimate, personal relationship with God does not love.

God made his love know (apparent) to us be sending Jesus to the earth to die for our sin. In his great love for us he became the atoning sacrifice for our sin. It's difficult to grasp--it seems quite inconceivable if it is done without love. But it wasn't. It was love and that makes all the difference in eternity.

Our sin keeps us from God--all sin does--the confessed din, the secret sin, the "justifiable" sin, the "deniable" sin...all of it keeps us from God, from knowing God and from loving God. Ephesians 2 tells us that we used to be separated from Christ as a result of our sin but that because of Christ's great love for us (vs 5) we have been made alive in Christ.

Is sin the opposite of love? Some say apathy is the opposite of love or hatred is the opposite of love. Elie Wiesel says indifference is its opposite. I think sin is its opposite. Sin separates us from God. Sin damages the intimate, personal relationship. Sin keeps us from knowing God and it damages the connection no matter how "small" we think it is--it still separates us. This is why we strive for a life of holiness.

The more we sin the less we love. Jesus, who was without sin was and is love. He modeled love for us.

We can't love and sin. To know God is to know this love, to depend on it, to rely on it, to live by it and in it, to exist in it.

God gave his unfailing love through His only Son so that we may live through him. We do this by living in love.

How we respond to this unfailing love is in knowing God. Knowing God cannot be kept to oneself. It must be shared, expressed, live and must be evident to all--not just to the people who look, think and smell like you--to all people. The song says "they'll know we are Christians by our love". John 15:9-17 gives us some instructions about how we are to love--just as the Father has loved us. Vs 17 then commands us to love one another.

Ephesians 2 tells us that we are made alive in Christ by this love and that we are to abide in it as it has been modeled for us (Jn 15:10). Our response is to allow this love to control us (2 Cor 5:14) and to love one another (Jn 13:35) as nothing can ever separate us from this love (Ro 8:35-39). This unfailing love surpasses all knowledge (Eph 3:19) and is poured out into our hearts (Ro 5:5).

Do you "know" God? Do you love? This love is the distinguishing mark of Christ's followers (Jn 13:35). Is it distinguishable in your life--in all areas of your life? God gave his unfailing love and this love compels (2 Cor 5:24)--drives us, pushes us, urges us, forces us--to love others. This unfailing love allows us to no longer live for ourselves, but to live for Him.