Chapter 3
Crazy Love
Notes from Chapter 3:
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.
God is more worthy of trust than anyone else.
“The word of the Lord came to me saying: ‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” – Jeremiah 1:4-5
In other words, God knew me before He made me. Please don’t skim over this truth just because you’ve heard it before. Take some time to really think about it. God knew you and me before we existed. God has been with me from the start; in fact well before the start.
He determined what Jeremiah would do before he was even born. I questioned whether that was true for me. Maybe all of this pertained only to Jeremiah’s life? Then I remembered Ephesians 2:10 which tells us that we were created to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. That verse is meant for me, and all others who’ve been saved by grace through faith.
My existence was not random, nor was it an accident. God knew who he was creating, and He designed me for a specific work.
I don’t have to worry about not meeting (God’s) expectations. (He) will ensure my success in accordance with His plan, not mine. This is the God we serve. The God who knew us before he made us. The God who promises to remain with us and rescue us. The God who loves us and longs for us to love him back.
So why, when we constantly offend Him and are so unlovable and unloving, does God persist in loving us?
Whether we admit it or not, every one of us has offended God at some point. Jesus affirmed this when He said “No one is good except God alone” – Luke 18:19
So why does God still love us, despite us? I don’t have an answer to this question, but I do know that if God’s mercy didn’t exist, there’d be no hope. No matter how good we tried to be, we would be punished because of our sins.
“All our righteous acts are like filthy rags, our good deeds can never outweigh our sins” – Isaiah 64:6
God’s mercy is a free, yet costly gift. It cannot be earned. Our righteous acts, just like menstrual garments (the literal translation of filthy rags), certainly don’t help us deserve it. The wages of sin will always be death, but because of God’s mercy, sin is paid for through the death of Jesus Christ, instead of the death of you and me.
The very fact that a holy, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, merciful, fair, and just God loves you and me is nothing short of astonishing. The wildest part is that Jesus doesn’t have to love us. His being is utterly complete and perfect apart from humanity. He doesn’t need me or you, yet He wants us, chooses us, and even considers us his inheritance.
The greatest knowledge we can ever have is knowing God treasures us. That really is amazing beyond description.
The irony is that while God doesn’t need us, but still wants us, we desperately need God, but don’t really want Him, most of the time… We wonder indifferently how much we have to do for Him to get by.
If someone asked you what the greatest good on this earth is what would you say?
The greatest good on this earth is God.
God’s one goal for us is Himself. The best news…is that you can have God Himself. Do you believe that God is the greatest thing you could experience in the whole world?
Are we in love with God, or just His stuff? Do you love this God who is everything, or do you just love everything He gives you? Do you really know and believe that God loves you, individually and personally, and intimately? Do you see and know Him as Abba Father?
(May this) remind you of the CRAZY, undeserved love of God.
Chapter video:
For more on the book visit: www.crazylovebook.com
*Quotes from Crazy Love by Francis Chan
*Photos by me
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