I'll start off with this quote from the book:
“Come with me on this journey. I don’t promise it will be painless. Change, as we all know, is uncomfortable. It’s up to you to respond to what you hear, but you will have a choice, to adjust how you live daily, or to stay the same.”
And here are the notes from the forward and Chapter 1:
I think we all feel deeply, even if we haven’t voiced it, that the Church in many ways is not doing well. We’re each a part of the Church and therefore responsible.
This book is written for those who want more Jesus. It’s for those who are board with what American Christianity offers. I hope reading this book will convince you of something: that by surrendering yourself totally to God’s purposes, He will bring you the most pleasure in this life and the next.
I believe He wants us to love others so much that we go to extremes to help them. I believe He wants us to be known for giving of our time, our money, our abilities, and to start a movement of Giving Churches. In so doing we can alleviate the suffering in the world and change the reputation of His bride in America.
The core problem isn’t the fact that we’re lukewarm, halfhearted, or stagnant Christians the crux of it all is why we are this way, and it’s because we have an inaccurate view of God.
We forget that God never had an identity crisis, He knows that He’s great, and deserves to be the center of our lives.
Jesus came humbly as a servant, but he never begs us to give him some small part of ourselves, he commands EVERYTHING from his followers.
Stop Praying
What if I said “Stop praying”, what if I told you to stop talking at God for a while, but instead to take a long hard look at him before you speak another word. Solomon warned us not to rush into God’s presents with words. That’s what fools do, and often that’s what we do. The wise man comes to God without saying a word and stands in awe of him.
Through creation we see His invisible qualities and divine nature.
Take a look at the Awe Factor Video to get a taste of the awe factor of our God:
You’re speechless? Amazed? Humbled? Perhaps God wanted us to see these pictures so that our response would be “Who do I think I am”?
His art, His handiwork, and His creation all echo the truth that He is glorious; there is no other like Him. He is the King of Kings, the beginning and the end, the one who was and is and is to come.
…We still forget
In our world where hundreds of things distract us from God, we have to intentionally and consistently remind ourselves of him.
Stop and Think:
Because we don’t often think about the reality of who God is, we quickly forget He is worthy to be worshiped and loved. We are to fear Him.
All things were created by Him and for Him. Don’t we live as though God is created for us, to do our bidding, to bless us and to take care of our loved ones?
Psalm 115:3 reveals “Our God is in heaven, He does whatever pleases Him”. Yet we keep on questioning him: Why did you make me with this body instead of that one? Why are so many people dying of starvation? Why are there so many planets with nothing living on them? Why is my family so messed up? Why don’t you make yourself more obvious to the people who need you? The answer to each of these questions is simply this: Because he’s God. He has more of a right to ask us why so many people are starving. As much as we want God to explain himself to us, his creation, we are in no place to demand that He give an account to us.
When you get your own universe you can make your own standards.
The appropriate way to end this chapter is... standing in awed silence before a mighty fearsome God whose tremendous worth becomes even more apparent as we see our own puny selves in comparison.
Chapter Video:
For more on the book visit: www.crazylovebook.com
*Quotes from Crazy Love by Francis Chan
*Photo by me
This post is pretty long, the next chapters should be shorter.
: )
*Photo by me
This post is pretty long, the next chapters should be shorter.
: )
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