Crazy Love

So my dad gave me Crazy Love by Francis Chan to read today. He told me to read chapters 5-6 and give my thoughts on it.....so here goes...

Whoa, okay, so the fifth chapter, 'Serving Leftovers to a Holy God'...ouch...

I have to admit, when I was reading the first part of this chapter, I was having trouble.

It's about lukewarmness...

All my life, I have always thought that lukewarmness was talking about us Christians. How if we aren't on fire for God, but we don't just ignore Him, we were in-between, a lukewarm Christian.

What Mr. Francis says in his book though, is "...a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron; there's no such thing."

I was like, wait...what? This was going against some things that I grew up with the knowledge of, but there have been a lot of things like that in the past year, things that made sense after I studied them.

After he says this, he gives the passage in the Bible where Jesus talks about 'lukewarmness.'

Revelation 3:15-18

15"'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see."

So, how do you look at this and think that it is talking about Christians? How did I? Jesus was talking to a church, yes, a church of supposed Jesus followers. So if you just pull this out of the passage and teach it, yeah, everyone thinks Jesus is talking about Christians, talking to you.

In a way, it could be.

Jesus was saying to the church here, that because they are lukewarm, He is going to spit them out of His mouth. Francis Chan then says "When you read this passage, do you naturally conclude that to be 'spit' out of Jesus' mouth means you're a part of His kingdom? ...When He counsels them to 'buy white clothes to wear' in order to cover their 'shameful nakedness,' does it sound like advice for those already saved?
I thought people who were saved were already made white and clothed by Christ's blood."

How was this church lukewarm? They weren't giving their all. They were giving only halfway. They weren't real Christians. That's what it meant. Jesus saw their hearts and was disappointed. They said they were Christians, they walked the walk, talked the talk, but they hadn't really given their hearts to Him.

Jesus says it a lot in the Gospels, He wants it all, or nothing. Don't give only a little.

In light of the parable of the soils, looking at the plants in rocky and thorny soil, the author says this; "I wanted to know if the person representing the rocky soil is saved, even though he has no root. I wondered about the thorny soil: Is this person saved since he does have root?
...Is this idea of the non-fruit-bearing Christian something that we have concocted in order to make Christianity 'easier'? So we can follow our own course while still calling ourselves followers of Christ? So we can join the Marines, so to speak, without having to do all the work?'

Umm, so then Chan starts talking about questions you ask yourself, you know what I mean. The questions such as, 'If I'm ashamed about talking about Christ, will Jesus really deny knowing me? If my boyfriend and I cross some lines in our relationship, am I really a Christian?' the list goes on.

You know what I'm talking about. We are all guilty of doing this. You know what's really bad about it though? Question like these show whats in our hearts. It shows what we really think about, our chance of going to heaven instead of what we really should be thinking about. Jesus Christ.

You can think about Jesus, you can say you know Him, but do you follow Him? You're like yeah. I follow Jesus everyday! I tithe, read my Bible, and I pray. I might even give a few extra dollars in the offering plate on Sunday. I'm in church every time the doors are open.

You can say you know God, but like in James it says, 'You believe God is one; you do well. Even demons believe-and shudder!' Chapter 3 verse 19. Look back at verse 17, 'So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.'

That, saying you know Jesus but not doing what He says to do, is halfway worship. That is being lukewarm.

Giving a little extra money in the church and things like that is giving God your leftovers. That's not giving your all for Jesus.

Jesus told us to go and make disciples. 'Go and teach all nations' He said. Hanging out in a church building and making converts isn't that. That isn't exactly what He said, or meant.

All God wants is our love, our devotion, our attention. He wants us to focus on Him and help others see Him, so that they to can feel His love and give it back. God measures us by how we love.

When I read these things, it showed me how great Jesus loves me. I'll fail in all these things every single day. I'll not love like I should be, or I'll chicken out of showing someone God's love. Ugh, I fail everyday, I'll have a bit of lukewarmness in me everyday. Does this mean that I'm not truly saved? Nope. Not since I'm a true believer. Jesus' grace covers me and covers it all. Because I have this, you can see in the Bible, that there is room for my failure and sin in pursuit of God.

After reading this, it makes me want to make sure I'm all in. I don't want to only give parts of me, I want to give all of me!

In light of going on missions trips this summer, this book, I feel, is challenging me to not give partway in all that I could do. I believe that He would want me to make sure I'm doing all that I can out there.