CRAZY LOVE, CHAPTER 3
Chapter 3 of Crazy Love focuses on our relationship with God as Father. Chapter 3 helped me grow a little more in freedom; freedom from the Christian life as a to-do list. One thing he says really helped me - "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." That is so true. If my focus is on doing things for God and making sure I'm practicing certain Christian disciplines (which are good, by the way), I might be tempted to boast in those things without realizing that it's a relationship that He wants! Loving God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength will result in having regular times of prayer and bible reading and all those other good Christian disciplines. Francis Chan then goes on to retell the story of Jeremiah's call in order to describe this God we are called to love. In Jeremiah 1, God tells Jeremiah that He knew him before he existed. Chan makes us pause and think about this.
Pause.....
Think......
God says, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you..."
This is the God we have a relationship with. Even better, Chan goes on to describe Jeremiah's reluctance to accept the call. God reassures him and the Bible says that God reaches out His hand and touches Jeremiah's mouth. Wait! Think on this one. Remember chapter 1 of this book when Chan is describing our God. The God of the universe - the universe that we cannot comprehend and in which we are but a nano-speck (is that a word?!). This God reaches out His hand and touches Jeremiah's mouth. Remember also that God is a spirit and He does not have a physical hand like we do, but nonetheless, God chooses to reveal Himself to us in ways we can relate to. Such merciful condescension!! It's amazing.
Now, think of Jesus. God with us, in the flesh. He comes to relate to us - to identify with us - to suffer for us - to take our place. Oh, Lord, please tear the veil off our eyes and make this new for us every morning.
1 comment:
nicely written.....I struggled for years, (before reading Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas), with thinking i "had" to meet with the Lord a certain time of day in a certain way...how free-ing it was when it really sunk in that I can meet with my Maker with all my heart, soul, strength and mind throughout any time of day or evening in any place!!!!
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