Review: Crazy Love

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

by Francis Chan

My short synopsis is: “One of those simple but powerful books that challenges comfortable “Christianity.” Can being a Christian really be “comfortable?” Peaceful perhaps. But anything but comfortable.”

This is one of those generational message books. It seems that often the Lord seems to raise up a message and a book for a particular time in the life of His church. Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God was/is one of those books that surfaced in 1990. John Piper’s book, Desiring God (1986) is another, in my opinion.

Francis Chan is the pastor of Cornerstone Community Church in California, and as a dynamic and uncomfortably authentic communicator, he is able to couch a stinging rebuke of western Christianity into a gracious and loving message. It is biblical exhortation in 21st century style.

I love a book that asks great questions. This is one of those. Some of the questions are hidden in the middle of chapters, but a few that I caught and pondered were: - Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate? -Could it be your arrogance that makes you think God owes you an explanation? - So why does God still love us, despite us? - Do you love this God who is everything, or do you just love everything He gives you? - Are you satisfied being “godly enough” to get yourself to heaven, or to look good in comparison to others? - Is the idea of the non-fruit bearing Christian something that we have concocted in order to make Christianity “easier?” -Was your decision to follow Christ flippant, based solely on feelings and emotion, made without counting the cost? - Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people He has made? -Why do so few people genuinely find joy and pleasure in their relationship with God?

These are just a sampling. Any one of them is enough to ponder seriously and lead to life-altering change.

If you haven’t read the book, imagine what he says rather than just what he asks.

It’s interesting to note that Jesus Christ taught similarly. In Luke 9.25, He asks, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”

It’s all about a love relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It’s been my life theme, and Chan’s Crazy Love challenges you to make it real.