::Crazy Love::

Hi Friends!

I know it's been a while and I promise that a post about my Ecuador trip will soon follow, but this blog has been waiting patiently. I actually finished reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan while in Ecuador and I wanted to jot down some of my favorite parts just in case some of you were wondering if you should pick up the book or not... PICK IT UP!!!

After Radical, I read Ten Ways To Destroy The Imagination Of Your Child by Anthony Esolen and that is another blog of its own, but lets just say I appreciated Francis Chan much more after that one! Anyway, here are some of the things that really spoke to my heart:

• 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 is because we have an inaccurate view of God. We see Him as a benevolent Being who is satisfied when people manage to "fit" Him into their lives in some small way. We forget that God NEVER has an identity crisis. He knows what 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.
• God's art speaks of Himself, reflecting who He is and what He is like.
• We forget that we already have everything we need in Him.
• To the Jews, saying something three times demonstrated its perfection, so to call God "Holy, Holy Holy" is to say that He is perfectly set apart, with nothing and no one to compare Him to. That is what is means to be "holy."
• It takes a lot for us to comprehend God's total hatred for sin. We make excuses like, "Yes, I am prideful at times, but everyone struggles with pride." However, God says in Proverbs 8:13, "I hate pride and arrogance." You and I are not allowed to tell Him how much He can hate it. He can hate and punish it as severely as His justice demands.
• When I am consumed by my problems-stressed out about my life, my family. my job- I actually convey the belief that I think the circumstances are more important than God's command to always rejoice. In other words, that I have a "right" to disobey God because of the magnitude of my responsibilities.
• Worry implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives.
• Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control.
• Both worry and stress reek of arrogance.
• The point of your life is to point to Him.
• In about fifty years (give or take a couple decades), no one will remember you. Everyone you know will be dead. Certainly no One will care what job you had, what car you drove, what school you attended, or what clothes you wore.
• Sadly, many people die while living selfishly. Their funerals are filled by individuals who stretch the truth in order to create a semblance of a meaningful life. Nobody would dare say an unkind word at the funeral; there is an unspoken obligation to come up with something nice to say about the person who died. But sometimes we secretly think the same thing: He really wan't that great of a person.
• Over time I realized that when we love God, we naturally run to Him - frequently and zealously. Jesus didn't command that we have a regular time with Him each day. Rather, He tells us to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." He called this the "first and greatest commandment" (Matt. 22:37-38). The results are intimate prayer and study of His Word. Our motivation changes from guilt to love.
• If God's mercy didn't exist there would be no hope.
• The greatest good on this earth is God. Period. God's one goal for us is Himself.
• (Talking about the parable of the good/ bad soil) Do not assume you are good soil.
• Has your relationship with God actually changed the way you live? Do you see evidence of God's kingdom in your life? Or are you choking it out slowly by spending too much time, energy, money, and thought on the things of this world?
• LUKEWARM PEOPLE think about life on earth much more often that eternity in heaven.
• LUKE WARM PEOPLE ask, "How far can I go before it's considered a sin?" instead of, "How can I keep myself pure as a temple of the Holy Spirit?"
• To put it plainly, churchgoers who are "lukewarm" are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven.
• Jesus says in Revelation 3:15-18, "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold or hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, "I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing." But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see."
• Let's face it. We're willing to make changes in our lives only if we think it affects our salvation. This is why I have so many people ask me questions like, Can I divorce my wife and still go to heaven? Do I have to be baptized to be saved? Am I a Christian even though I am having sex with my partner? If I commit suicide, can I still go to heaven? If I'm ashamed to talk about Christ is He really gong to deny knowing me?
• These questions are tragic because they reveal much about the state of our hearts. They demonstrate that out concern in more about going to heaven than loving the King. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey what I command" (John 14:15). And our question quickly becomes even more unthinkable: Can I go to heaven without truly and faithfully loving Jesus?
• James 2:19 says, "You believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder." God doesn't just want us to have a good theology; He wants us to know and love Him. First John 2:3-4 says, "We know that we have come to know him,' but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
• Call me crazy, but I think those verses mean that the person who claims to know God but doesn't obey His commands is a liar and that the truth really isn't in him.
• Leftovers are not merely inadequate; from God's point of view (His is the only one who matters), they're evil. Let's stop calling it a "busy schedule" or "bills" or forgetfulness." It's called evil.
• As Tim Kizziar said, "Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.
• God's definition of what matters is pretty straightforward. He measure out lives by how we love.
• If life is a river, then pursuing Christ requires swimming upstream. When we stop swimming or actively following Him we automatically begin to be swept downstream
• We are on a never-ending downward escalator, putting up with perturbed looks from everyone else who is gradually moving downward.
• Nothing should concern us more than out relationship with God; it's about eternity and nothing compares with that. God is not someone who can be tacked on to our lives.
• We disgust God when we weigh and compare Him against the things of this world. It makes Him sick when we actually decide those things are better for us than God Himself.
• 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 it about loving God and loving the people He has made?
• Is loving God - and by extension loving people - what you are about?
• Something mysterious even supernatural must happen in order for genuine love for God to grow in our hearts. The Holy Spirit must move in our lives.
• As we begin to focus more on Christ, loving Him and others becomes more natural. As long as we are pursuing Him we are satisfied in Him. It is when we stop actively loving Him that we find ourselves restless and gravitating towards other means of fulfillment.
• But He has overcome the world. So take heart, keep on, fight the good fight, pray continuously, and do not grow weary. There is nothing better than giving up everything and stepping into a passionate love relationship with God, the God of the universe who made galaxies, leaves, laughter, and me and you.
• The promise that our troubles are "achieving for us an eternal glory" seems hard to believe in the midst of the mess.
• David Livingston, a missionary to Africa during the 1800's once said during a speech to students at Cambridge University, "People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa... I never made a sacrifice. We ought not to talk of 'sacrifice' when we remember the great sacrifice which He made who left His Father's throne on high to give Himself for us."
• There really is a God who forgives everything and loves endlessly.
• Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy. Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.
• 1 John 3:16-20 - Jesus is saying that we show tangible love for God in how we care for the poor and those who are suffering. He expects us to treat the poor and desperate as if they were Christ Himself.
• Giving that is not motivated by love is worth nothing.
• The concepts of downsizing so that others might upgrade is biblical, beautiful...and nearly unheard of.
• God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through.

Love and Blessings,

Erin