Crazy Love by Francis Chan, a classic within our generation.
I’ve read this book twice and have been convicted and challenged both times. The second time round hit differently though. I completely deceived myself that I was on the right path when I first read it. Then the second time I read it, I went to God in repentance.
In this blog, I broke the book down into a few different areas that stood out to me. Firstly, it reminded me once again of how much of a filthy rag I am, so I have to run to Jesus everyday to be cleansed. Lukewarm faith is also something that I am repentant of each day - I’m on fire for God one second, and then I’m completely self-righteous the next. Hence, I’m realising each day that this is a lifelong journey. Not only did the book remind me of the daily battle I need to fight, but it also reminded me that I need to be walking a completely different path to the world, and the only way to do this is to give my whole self to God.
Not sure about you, but I have grown up in a Christian household. And when you're surrounded by Christians themes across all your conversations, TV programs, community and friends, there’s a sense of obligation to love God.
But we should be genuinely loving God, not because we have to love God…
“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” as Chan puts it.
We just want Him enough, not to be saved from our sins, but from the consequences of our sins. Just enough to live a comfortable life. Just enough to believe that we will be going to heaven.
Lukewarm. That’s the best word to describe the faith that we all go through at least once in our lifetime, if not, everyday.
We are lukewarm people who just do enough religious acts to make ourselves feel good. (What does lukewarm look like? Check out chapter 4 in the book Crazy Love for some examples.)
And ultimately, we feel morally “good” because when we compare ourselves to the secular world we feel that we have ticked more boxes. But Isaiah 64:6 says, “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” Our good deeds can never outweigh our sins.
The lukewarm christianity is the byproduct of self-righteousness. If we just knew how filthy we are, but despite our filthiness, God has saved us from eternal damnation, then we’ll realise we cannot stay lukewarm.
If you are lukewarm, you still have no idea (or have forgotten) of the weight of the great death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Let's dive a bit deeper on how filthy we are.
In the book, there is a section where Francis Chan talks about poop💩.
He mentioned that one of his friends described Christians as manure: “Spread them out and they help everything grow better, but keep them in one big pile and they stink horribly.”
The question is, are you the type to stay cliquey, or are you willing to expand your horizon to serve others outside of your comfort zone?
Since we’re on the topic of poop 💩 … I want to also share something that I’ve learnt in the past about how filthy we are.
In the Old Testament, while Israelites were still in the wilderness, I’ve always wondered how they took care of their business💩?
I mean number 1 ⛲️ would have been easy…
But number 2 💩 is a different story…
Then I came across Deuteronomy 23:3 where God gives instructions around 💩ing!
Long story short, after finishing their business in the hole they dug up, God told them to cover up their cr@p.
I don’t remember where I’ve learnt this, but covering up in Hebrew implies the covering of something repulsive to ensure God’s presence remains.
Stay with me! This is the crazy part - the same term, “covering” is used in Psalm 32:1 to describe the covering of sin! 🤯
Isn’t that crazy?! That’s how filthy we are. Our sins being covered by God’s grace is described in the same way the Israelites covered their excrement.
And if you’re still not connecting the dots - WE ARE SINNERS.
How do we overcome lukewarm faith?
In our lifetime, we are constantly distracted by the busyness of work, chores, children, friends etc. So Chan reminds us that we have to be intentional and consistent in reminding ourselves of who God is and what He has done for us.
I’m not talking about being motivated to spend time with God. I’m talking about, despite whether we are motivated or NOT, we need to INTENTIONALLY spend time with God. And that’s discipline. Doing something intentionally even if we don’t feel like it.
And how does this discipline start within our relationship with God?
We need to humble ourselves before God.
So where does humility start?
I believe it starts with just being present.
We may feel proud or we may feel ashamed. We may feel confident, or we may feel worried and stressed. We may feel happy or we may feel sorrow. Whatever it may be, if we don’t put this before God and intentionally spend time with Him daily, our arrogance will permeate the air. And this is called self-righteousness. So humility starts with being present before God.
And before you know it, you’ll be reminded once again of how sinful you are and how beautiful God is. This is where you’ll recognise He is holy, loving and gracious beyond what we could possibly fathom.
The fact of the matter is, “the world needs Christians who don’t tolerate the complacency of their own lives”, which I believe stems from self-righteousness - the opposite to humility.
Christians need to walk a different path
So if we understand that we are filthy rags, we need to be humble before God and we are in the process of being renewed (which is a lifetime journey), we need to now start walking a different path.
So what does walking a different path mean? It means being radically different.
A lot of examples in the bible are based on, but not limited to, finances. I guess finance is a big topic, because this is the one thing that controls the majority of our world.
So what can we do so radical with our money? Let's look at Zacchaeus in the Bible. A wealthy tax collector, who gives half his possessions to the poor and gives back four times more than what he cheated them. And Jesus declares, “Today salvation has come to this house” (Luke 19:9).
According to the previous chapter, what was impossible for the rich (“it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” - Luke 18:25) - was made possible with the encounter of Christ.
One of my mentors has even told me that he wants to sell his property (which is completely paid off) in Sydney to find ways to support other people around him. And if you know the price of property in Sydney, you’ll realise how radical this is.
Another path Christians walk that the world doesn’t, is loving their enemies. Loving people who love you is something that everyone can do. But loving your enemies is a different story.
For example, someone I know (whom I will not name) had a traumatic experience with her father. She grew up in a household where she was verbally abused most of her life, and in her adulthood the verbal abuse became physical. To get a bit more graphic, she was once beaten with a golf club and had a chair thrown at her head. This tore her family apart.
She left home and had not spoken to her father for a few years.
What’s radical in this situation is that she started attending a young adults ministry at the church where she grew up. She started serving. Her multiple encounters with Christ during that time and in her new position in leadership at church convicted her to go and forgive her father, (like our Father in heaven who has forgiven us) who never once apologised for his actions.
Of course, it was a long process, and far from being easy. But through her encounter with Christ, she was able to forgive, move back in with her family and reconcile her relationship with her father. Not only that, through her forgiveness, her father started to imitate the character of Christ. (Disclaimer: Everyone’s situation is different and you shouldn’t condone violence. Please seek help if you’re in a similar situation.)
This is a great example of the different path Christians walk. While the world will tell her that her father is unforgivable and unworthy of love, while the world tells us to build wealth and store up treasure for ourselves, Christianity paints a different picture. And we call this the upside down Kingdom.
He wants all of you
You’ll now notice that when Christians walk a different path, like my mentor who plans to sell his property to help others, or the woman who forgave her father who used to beat her - all of this points to Him - our God.
For our relationships to grow, we need to let go of our greed, our bitterness, our hurt, our addictions, our wants and desires. Do you know why? As Chan eloquently puts it “a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron; there’s no such thing. To put it plainly, churchgoers who are ‘lukewarm’ are not Christians”. So we need to radically change.
God wants all of me, and He wants all of you.
He wants us to love Him wholeheartedly, without any agenda.
That means, to lose everything. To let go of everything.
Is it hard? Absolutely.
Is it painful? For sure!
Is it worth it? 100%!
Because God, our Father will take care of us.