Crazy Love

Crazy Love. By Francis Chan. 2008. 205 pages.

 

I picked up Crazy Love because a good friend kept talking about it. Sadly, this is not a book I probably would have picked up had he not kept on mentioning it. I must admit, when I first heard the title I assumed it was something similar to “The Five Love Languages” and so that would also explain my disinterest in it. (Perhaps if I had read the subtitle “Overwhelmed by a Relentless God” I would have quickly changed my mind about that!).

 

However, I ordered the book and once I began to read it I really, really liked it. This is a book that you will be underlining and highlighting throughout.

 

Crazy Love is focused on your relationship with God. He begins with how amazing God is, and the fact that God “cannot be contained in this world, explained by our vocabulary, or grasped by our understanding.” [pg. 35] I really liked his quote from A. W. Tozer: “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us…”

 

Francis Chan points out that when we let our problems consume us (with worry and stress) we are in effect telling God that we don’t think He is big enough (or powerful enough, or loving enough) to take care of us. This happens when we “forget that life is all about God and not about me at all.” [pg 42] 

 

The fact that God loves us is just amazing. He is under no obligation or anything to love us – but God loves us so much that He even considers us to be His inheritance. “The greatest knowledge we can ever have is knowing God treasures us.” [pg 61] And His love is so underserved – that’s why it’s “Crazy Love”!

 

The most convicting part of the book was the chapter entitled “Profile of the Lukewarm.” He opens with a parable from Matthew 13:44, comparing the Kingdom to a treasure hidden in a field, which when a man found it, he hid it, and in joy sold all he had and bought the field. And you have to ask yourself, “Is God that important to me?”  He goes on to say that having a relationship with God will change your life.  He gives many statements such as “Lukewarm People say they love Jesus, and He is, indeed, a part of their lives. But only a part. They give Him a section of their time, their money, and their thoughts, but He isn’t allowed to control their lives.” [pg 72]  In the next chapter he goes on to say that following Christ cannot be done halfheartedly. It must be central. He gives a simple but very effective metaphor of the Christian life – it’s like swimming up river. If we stop then we begin right away to go in the other direction.

 

The converse of the chapter on the lukewarm is the “Profile of the Obsessed.” The statements in this chapter are very convicting and will probably make you a little uncomfortable. One of the ones that stuck out to me was “A person who is obsessed is characterized by committed, settled, passionate love for God, above and before every other thing and every other being.” [pg 143] Chan also gives a real neat illustration of his grandmother, who when at a play was asked what she thought of it. She replied that she really didn’t want to be there right now because if Jesus came back right then she would rather have had Him found her praying or helping someone, not at a theater.

 

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be challenged in their relationship with God. This book will do that. There’s also a DVD series that could be done for a small group. I just started his next book – The Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit.