“God is love. Crazy, relentless, all-powerful love. Have you ever wondered if we’re missing it? It’s crazy, if you think about it. The God of the universe—the Creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and E-minor—loves us with a radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing love. And what is our typical response? We go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss.”
“Whether you’ve verbalized it yet or not…we all know something’s wrong.”
“Does something deep inside your heart long to break free from the status quo? Are you hungry for an authentic faith that addresses the problems of our world with tangible, even radical, solutions? God is calling you to a passionate love relationship with Himself. Because the answer to religious complacency isn’t working harder at a list of do’s and don’ts—it’s falling in love with God. And once you encounter His love, as Francis describes it, you will never be the same. Because when you’re wilding in love with someone, it changes everything.”
I was rolling right along, reading this book quite happily until came to the 4th chapter. As I read through the chapter, I became more and more introspective and began examining my life in light of what Chan wrote. The title of chapter four is “Profile of the Lukewarm”. Most of us know the quote from Revelation where Christ says that he will spit the lukewarm out of His mouth and few of us wake up in the morning and think, “I want to be lukewarm toward Christ today.”
On page 68, Chan says, “Would you describe yourself as totally in love with Jesus Christ? Or do the words halfhearted, lukewarm, and partially committed fit better?”
He reminds us that the Bible says to test yourself and see if you are in the faith. Over the next several pages, Chan offers a description of what a “halfhearted, distracted, partially committed, lukewarm people can look like.”
“Lukewarm people attend church fairly regularly. It is
what is expected of them, what they believe ‘good Christians’ do, so they go.” p. 68“Lukewarm people give money to charity and to the church….as long as it doesn’t impinge on their standard of living. If they have a little extra and it is easy and safe to
give, they do so. After all, God loves a cheerful giver,
right?” p.69“Lukewarm people tend to choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict. They desire to fit in both at church and outside of church; they care more about what people think of their actions (like church attendance and giving) than what God thinks of their hearts and lives.”
P.69“Lukewarm people don’t really want to be saved from their sin; they want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin.They don’t genuinely hate sin and aren’t truly sorry for it; they’re merely sorry because God is going to punish them. Lukewarm people don’t really believe that this new life Jesus
offers is better than the old sinful one.” P. 70“Lukewarm people are moved by stories of people who do radical things for Christ, yet they do not act. They assume such action is for ‘extreme’ Christians, not average ones. Lukewarm people call ‘radical’ what Jesus expected of all His followers.” P. 70-71.
I’ll stop there for today and allow you to ponder on those points about lukewarm people. I’ll be back later in the week to finish this list and reflect with you a bit on how it impacted my heart. I am eager to hear what you think about these thoughts.
