Crazy Love – Francis Chan

A friend of mine recommended Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God to me.  Prior to that I had not heard of Francis Chan.  My friend let me down in a way.  Before you recommend this book to anyone, you need to provide a warning.  If you’re comfortable in your Christian life, good family, good church, good job, all in all life is good – then do not read this book.  Unless of course, you’re brave enough to challenge your comfortable status quo.

Chan has a unique way of starting a book.  In chapter one he asks you to stop and watch a couple of videos on the book’s website, “Just Stop and Think” and “The Awe Factor of God”.  The reason that he wants you to watch these videos is that the purpose of the first three chapters is to make sure you have an understanding of who God is in the bible.

Chapter one discusses God being holy, eternal, all knowing, all powerful, and fair and just.  Chan brings home the point that many Christians today have learned this at some point but that we suffer from spiritual amnesia.  We start to take the awesomeness of God for granted.

Chapter two reminds us that life is short (James 4:13-14).  In this chapter, you are challenged that worry and stress are sins where you are making your problems greater than God.  He then ends the chapter asking if you’re ready to face God today.

In chapter three Chan really set me up.  He talks about God being this awesome Father, how He loves me, and how I need to love and fear him like a child does their own loving Dad – safe, secure, loved, but with respect and awe.  After these three chapters you’re feeling good about God and who you are with Him.  You might even be more encouraged to get back on track with your quiet time and bible reading.  Then comes the next chapter.

Some might say that Chapter four and five are the crux of the this book.  I don’t know about that.  In fact, Chan gives that title to the last chapter.  If these Chapters were all the book was about then this would be a discouraging book, but it’s meant to encourage.  The last half of the book picks you back up off the mat after chapter four hits you in the gut and then chapter five delivers the knock-out to your glass jaw.

Chapter four is about lukewarm Christians.  Francis Chan goes through verse after verse in describing lukewarm Christians.  It reminded me of Jeff Foxworthy and his famous routine, “You know you’re a redneck when…”.  The chapter reads like, “You know you’re a lukewarm Christian when…”.

I didn’t fail all of the lukewarm Christian tests but I saw myself in enough of them that I was humbled and broken.  I know lots of people that I would point to and think, “lukewarm Christian”.  However, when I read all the passages on how Christians are called to live, I saw the large log in my own eye.

Chapter four was harsh.  Chapter five starts by Chan stating, “Of all the chapters in this book, this one was the hardest for me to write.”  What?  Maybe I should should close the book now.  However, I took a deep breadth and continued.

The key passage in chapter five is Revelation 3:15-18.

I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

The message in chapter five is, true Christians, Christ followers, cannot be lukewarm.  If you are a lukewarm Christian, the bible says that Jesus “spits you out”.  Basically, Chan is saying that the bible is teaching that lukewarm Christians are not Christians.  After reading chapter four and realizing how much of my life is a lukewarm Christian life, chapter five delivered the blow and challenged my faith.  If I am a lukewarm Christian, am I a Christian at all?

For such a controversial and tough topic, Chan again does what more Christian authors should do.  He tells the reader to stop and read the gospels, all the way through and see for themselves what God says about those that claim to follow Jesus but don’t lead the life that follows Jesus.

I don’t want to scare anyone from reading this book.  Chan makes it clear that he is not wanting us to doubt our salvation.  He reaffirms that God’s grace covers our failures to follow Jesus how the bible tells us to follow him.  The point at which you need to think about your salvation is if your not 100% sold out for Jesus, and you’re ok with that.

As I mentioned, the rest of the book picks you back off the mat and encourages on how to live a life that is on fire for Jesus as opposed to the lukewarm life that has become too comfortable to us.

Chapter six is about what it means to truly love God.  What does that look like?  He quotes John Piper’s challenge from “God is the Gospel”.

The critical question for our generation—and for every generation— is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?

Chan’s point is this chapter is to encourage the reader to seek a true love relationship with Jesus.  If we try to pursue obedience to Jesus out of fear and guilt, we will fail.  We must be in love with Jesus.  If you’re not there, ask God to get you there.

Chapter seven encourages you to live for your next life and not this one.  We all know the verses about storing up treasures in heaven, but yet we still all live pursuing perishable treasures here on earth.

Chapter eight sort of reads like the antithesis of chapter four.  This chapter examples of what it is like to be obsessed for living for Jesus.  “You might be obsessed if…”.

Chapter nine follows up the theory of chapter eight with some real-life examples of people living radical lives for Jesus.  It includes well-known Christians from history like George Mueller to an everyday family that delivers food to the homeless every Christmas.

Chapter ten is titled, “The Crux of the Matter.”  Basically, now that you’ve read this book, if it cut to your heart and has convicted you to start living all out of Jesus, what next?

I highly recommend “Crazy Love” to everyone.  However, don’t forget the warning: This book may challenge you more than you want to be challenged if you think your life is comfortable and comfort is what you want.

I’m actually going through it again with a group of guys I meet with each week.  It was one of these guys that recommended the book to me but I later found out, he’d never read it yet himself.  Well, he’s going to read it now, and I’ve fully warned them all.