Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

This is such a beautiful, compelling, challenging book. Francis paints an overwhelming, awe inspiring picture of God the creator, then discusses God the father's all-encompassing love for each of us individually, and then challenges us to live up to the greatest commandment to love - by taking action! And the thing is, Fancis has, plainly and simply and actually. He isn't perfect and shares his thoughts and insights as he discovered the truth of Gods word and as that led him down the path he (and his family) have taken. This is a very inspiring and challenging book, that has to leave you feeling good just trying to get a grip on just how much God loves you. I encourage you to read NDN's review of May 21, 2016....in case you can't find it, it goes like this (and I quote): "This book is not intended for Christians with a faint heart. Before I made my purchase, (at the book store) I read numerous amazon reviews. There were quite a few disappointed readers who's primary complaint was I felt bad or I didnt feel like a good Christian anymore, or it was too harsh and not the message of grace. Well, none of us are worthy and it's not ALL about grace. This is a great book if you want to be challenged and convicted. If you like where you are and don't want that life to be disturbed, save your money. Chan is brutal, and it's easy to feel like your reading a beating at times. But that's Good!! He's not saying you can never ever get it right, it's more about being willing to put aside your will and decide to fully commit to God's will. Chan is not rendering that old oppressive theology of stop sinning and youll be worthy. We as Christians should never feel comfortable in our walk with God and that's the challenge Chan puts forth, to get out of your comfort zone and dare to try and love God as much as He loves you by giving of yourself and your resources to Him. Only you and God know what that looks like. You will squirm in your seat as you read, and may want to put the book down feeling more and more unworthy of God's grace...as you should. But the main point Chan wants us to get is we are loved by God who makes us worthy and if we call ourselves servants, how are we serving Him; what sacrifices are we making to serve our gracious and loving Father? If you like being comfortable in your christian walk and with the typical goto church on Sunday, Bible study on Wednesday, pay 10% of your income plus a little more for offering, volunteer at the shelter or lead bible youth group and you're content with that, don't bother the venture to this book, you won't like it. However, if you know somethings missing, or you know you could be doing so much more for God and just want something to shake you up from spiritual mediocrity, this is definitely a book for you. It was not the most fascinating read, hence 4 stars, but it was a good, solid and necessary one. I would highly recommended this book to any Christian who wants to avoid complacency."

Crazy Love is one of the best books I have ever read and certainly the best I have read this year. The writing style is very simple, personable, non-technical, compassionate, and interesting. This book will rock your faith and challenge you in ways other books (other than the Bible) have not. Chan makes an argument for Lordship in the book and clearly explains why Lukewarm Christianity not the answer. We live in a day where out churches are filled with luke-warm Christians or false converts. Just take a look around and see how many Christians are truly interested in evangelism. Not many.. Or take a look around and see that so many churches are interested in "entertainment evangelism" which means they think that the music, the video games, or the movies will attract people to God and they base their methodology on pragmatism over scripture. What they do not know is that these methods are a great way to produce false converts or Luke-warm Christians. But for more on that subject check out John MacArthur's book "Hard to Believe." Remember that Jesus commanded the church to go out into all the world and preach the Gospel (Mark 16:15) so this implies that witnessing in your local city, town, or workplace would be just as valuable to Him over someone whom moves to East Africa. Too often missions is heavily emphasized while local evangelism is frowned upon in the church. If you cannot serve overseas due to large debts, physical problems, family commitments, or whatever the reason, then buy yourself some tracts from Living Waters or some other ministry and go and reach your local community with the gospel! Take a look at page 173 and answer the question. What do you want to be doing when Christ Returns? Do you want Him to find you out drinking and spending all your money on video games and entertainment? Or would you rather Him find you out witnessing? I prefer the later. This book is convicting in that the emphasis on the book is God and glorifying Him. Far too many books these days are written by Arminian that think live revolves around themselves and God serving them, and so they are not all that Biblical. God is the focus of this book (check out chapter 1) and there is so much involved for man to continue to live each day. As Chan states in chapter 2 you are just someone that appears for a short time and then vanishes. So how do you want to make your life count for all of eternity? On page 46 Chan tells a story of a man named Stan whom preached at a funeral and challenged the audience to get right with God before it was too late as God could take their life at any moment. A few minutes later Stan fell over and died and God had taken him after that Gospel challenge. Perhaps some got saved that day. Contrary to some other reviews this book is not teaching that one must do these things to be saved, but that showing Christ's Lordship and your obsession with Him proves that you are indeed saved, and are a slave of God. This book will rock your Christian life and I would suggest reading it again, and again as I plan on doing. Some other books that are also good and have similar themes as this one are "Radical & Follow Me" by David Platt. Buy those ones as well and read them.

Very enlightening but very true words of encouragement and the need in this world to really follow Christ !! Just very deep thoughts of how most are getting this message like me and wanting to apply but not really understanding and knowing how to give up the hard worked for life we are accustomed to !! Spiritual and life changing read !

Love this book so far don’t pay attention to negative reviews on this book if a book doesn’t get you thinking or looking at your self and how you can change it’s not a good book. It’s not a judgemental book the author says he doesn’t intend it to be that kind of book if you read into the book. This is a book about how much God loves his children and helps us get out of being Luke warm and more on fire for him! Highly recommend!

Buy this book, buy this book, buy this book! Alright, now that we have that out of the way I absolutely recommend this book. I think a younger audience, say teens to 30-somethings will get the most value out of this book, however if you fall outside of that age range it is still very much worth reading. Chan cuts out the fluff and goes straight to the point with a down-to-earth and honest approach, he doesn't pull his punches either (the Lukewarm chapter will be a blow to a lot of American Christians that think going to Church a few times a month is enough to be a Christian, really stressing that occasional attendance is NOT being a Christian). I know a lot of study groups have used this book, and it does in fact have a study guide (that I have not purchased or even looked at) but don't think you need it to understand the text. Crazy Love is fine as a standalone book, I honestly think readers will walk away from it having decided it was well worth the purchase. I'd recommend this book to someone who is already a Christian, someone that has had a relationship with God in the past and is looking to re-kindle it or make it even stronger. A new Christian, or someone curious about Christianity, might find the book a bit over-the-top and even overwhelming and even intimidating. In closing I'd like to say the vast majority of Christians are likely to be offended by this book, but that's a good thing. A lot of Christians (in America for sure) are 'lukewarm' with their faith, they are fans not followers, they are the type that think going to church a few dozen times a year ensures their place in Heaven. This is terrible thinking, this is wrong, this is a lie whispered in your ear with feigned love by the Adversary. Don't let him fool you. Start with this book, use it as the first step to becoming a committed Christian, use it as a primer in transitioning from a fan to a follower.

I struggled with whether to give this book 3 stars or 4 stars. It has inspired me to be more liberal with my time and finances. Any book that can illuminate a weakness and inspire and change for the better is worth the price of admission. This is why I gave it 4 stars. My main issue with Crazy Love is that Francis doesn't seem to fully embrace grace. He knows ABOUT it and can easily describe what it means, but he doesn't fully embrace it. More on that in a bit... The section titled "Profile of the Lukewarm" is a difficult read. Ultimately it helped me. I read it several times and realized that there are several things in my life that need to be changed. That isn't a bad thing. It's a good thing. So good, in fact, that it pushed my rating from 3 stars to 4 stars. But there are flaws. You see, Francis lists many attributes that he believes qualifies someone as 'lukewarm'. Many. It would be pretty difficult for most people to read the entire section and not find at least one attribute that applies to them. That's why it was so unsettling to see him say: "As I see it, a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron; there's no such thing. To put it plainly, churchgoers who are "lukewarm" are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven." !!!!!!! As I said, the "Profile of the Lukewarm" list is expansive. If you read that section and found yourself, that's a good thing...until Francis tells you that you're not going to heaven if you qualify as 'lukewarm'. Francis realizes he didn't bring Grace into the equation, so he references it: "I do not want true believers to doubt their salvation as they read this book. In the midst of our failed attempts at loving Jesus, His Grace covers us. Each of us has lukewarm elements and practices in our life; therein lies the senseless, extravagant grace of it all. The Scriptures demonstrate clearly that there is room for our failure and sin in our pursuit of God. His mercies are new every morning. His grace is sufficent. I'm NOT saying that when you mess up it means you were never really a genuine Christian in the first place. If that were true, no one could follow Christ" Hmmmmm. Francis said: "I'm NOT saying that when you mess up it means you were never really a genuine Christian in the first place." ...which is nice...only he DID say that. Remember? He said: "To put it plainly, churchgoers who are "lukewarm" are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven." Which is it? This is what happens when we try to shoehorn Grace into a works-based belief system. You'll have conflict. So which is it? Does being 'lukewarm' disqualify us from heaven? If so, how many of the lukewarm attributes he lists will disqualify us? Three? Four? One? Francis also said: "When we want God and a bunch of other stuff, then that means we have thorns in our soil. A relationship with God simply cannot grow when money, sins, activities, favorite sports teams, addictions or commitments are piled on top of it." Francis? Did you just list 'sins' and 'addictions' alongside 'activities' and 'favorite sports teams'? This one stood out: "Jesus' call to commitment is clear: He wants all or nothing. The thought of a person calling himself a "Christian" without being a devoted follower of Christ is absurd." Shall I inform a new convert that he/she isn't a 'Christian' YET because he/she isn't fully 'devoted'? This basically says that confession, baptism and repentance are not enough. You must be fully devoted to qualify yourself as a 'Christian'. You have to be good enough. It is yet another dismissal of God's Grace. In conclusion, I would NOT recommend this book to a baby christian. I fear that this book would cause them to drift towards a Graceless, works-based religion. I would, however, recommend this book to anyone who has a firm grasp of God's Grace. Again, this book has inspired me to give more of my time and finances, but not because I think it would qualify me for heaven. Christ's blood has already done that. Rather because loving and giving selflessly will please my heavenly Father. Despite my concerns, any book that can motivate in that way is worth a read.

I have listened to Francis Chan for years, ever since he spoke at a retreat I attended years ago. I enjoy his refreshing views about a JESUS that few Christians know. His honesty and humility is a slap in the face of mainstream Christianity and when he became Spirit filled he rose to another level that should be an encouragement to the church as a whole. Francis is the definition of being “all in” for Christ. His genuine love for others is humbling and causes the reader to reevaluate their own walk with Christ. I have recommended this book to many people, purchased it and sent/handed it to people and if I could, I would give a copy to everyone in the church I attend. He is a blessed man who has served a mighty and powerful God and found that in all he has done through ministry, feels that there’s so much more to be done ….and he is correct. Everyone who reads this book will be ableto see where they fall short. MJP

Great book everyone needs a copy

The book that every christians have to read one time in his life. Francis is very frank and he tell you "the truth" without beat around the bush. I recommend sincerely.

If you want to get challenged in the depths of your faith or yieldedness to the Lord, please buy this book!

I bought this book already knowing the author. I knew the style, but this book is very special, so special that I decided to offer it to my brother. Thanks to this book, I looked at my life on a different perspective, it help me grow. I will surely read it again.

Francis Cham, in the book Crazy Love, challenges us to step out of our comfortable, lukewarm lives, and into the wholeness of Christ! You can’t read this book without being convicted, yet excited. The next part of this review is essential. You will want to put this book down at some points and forget about it. Feelings of guilt and unease will arise. But press on! Chans goal is not to make you feel guilty, but to inspire you towards change. The more you read, the more you’ll be motivated by excitement rather than guilt, which Chan does an excellent job of doing.

Wonderful book that talks about true and crazy love