Book Review: Crazy Love by Francis Chan

 Chan, Francis. Crazy Love. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook. 2008

Read: December 2008 

ISBN #978-1-4347-6851- 3        186 pp.

Francis Chan is the pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley and a popular speaker including three years at the Tsunami Student Conference.

There has always been something special about Francis in my mind. He is probably my favorite contemporary communicator. When his book finally came out, I knew it would be a “must read.” Even from the introduction I felt like it would be a book I needed to read and that I would enjoy what he says, need to hear what he says, and that I probably wouldn’t like what I needed to do in response. As my wife says, “it sounds like the perfect book.”

The basic premise is that we just don’t understand the huge nature of God and the immense love He has for us. His love for us is “crazy” and our only proper response is to have crazy love for Him. Francis says, “This book is written for those who want more Jesus.” [21].

Written with young adults particularly in mind, Francis introduces each chapter with a video that can be viewed at www.crazylovebook.com.

1.     Stop Praying

By stop praying, Francis really means “stop talking.” He directs the reader to www.crazylovebook.com to view an additional video called “Awe Factor” where he uses computer graphics to show the size of the known universe. He used the same video at Tsunami in 2006. He moves from the huge size of the universe to the small details of this world to show how God is in the big and the small things.

Francis knows that most Christians (and most intelligent people) know these things, but we forget. He calls it spiritual amnesia. He says it manifests itself when we love God because we are supposed to rather than loving Him just because of who He is. We need to be reminded of His beauty, power, and love. He reminds the reader that God is holy, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, and fair and just.

Francis closes the chapter with an overview of the glimpses of God in Revelation 4 and Isaiah 6.

2.     You Might Not Finish This Chapter

This chapter actually made me shed a tear. It borders on being morbid. It speaks of life as a vapor (James 4:13-14). Francis lines out some of the many ways a person could die. His point is that we could die at any minute. His real point is that we are just bit players, extras if you will, in the grand movie about God. We need to remember that and we need to live our lives like we remember it.

Francis illustrates the point of living life rightly in the lives of Stan Gerlach and Booke Bronkowski (this is what made me cry). Stan was giving a eulogy and shared the gospel saying that we could die at any moment and then he fell over dead. One of his sons said he was so proud of his dad dying while sharing the gospel.

Brooke was a sold out evangelist who died at 14. About 200 students prayed for salvation at her funeral. At age 12 she wrote

I’ll live my life to the fullest. I’ll be happy. I’ll brighten up. I will be more joyful than I have ever been. I will be kind to others. I will loosen up. I will tell others about Christ. I will go on adventures and change the world. I’ll be one of those people who live to be history makers at a young age. Oh, I’ll have moments, good and bad, but I will wipe away the bad and only remember the good.I have my life before me. I will give others the joy I have and God will give me more joy. I will do everything god tells me to do. I will follow the footsteps of God. I will do my best.

Wow!

3.     Crazy Love

This chapter deals with God as Father and what that image means. In typical transparent fashion, Francis tells of how his relationship with his father was a difficult and unloving one. He related to his father out of obedience based in fear. He understandably tells of how it made it difficult to understand the beauty of God as Father.

As he has grown, Francis has learned to replace fear of God with “reverent intimacy.” I like that. For me, who grew up with a loving Father, this chapter did not present any great revelations, I could appreciate that it showed Francis’ appreciation for the authority and sovereignty of God as well as his crazy love for us.

4.     Profile of the Lukewarm

This is a bold chapter. Francis starts by saying that most American churches are the soil (from the parable of the sower) where the gospel gets choked by all the weeds.  He says, “the American church is a difficult place to fit in if you want to live our New Testament Christianity.” [68].

He proceeds to give a series of statements to help the reader determine if they are lukewarm. Each description has Scripture to back it up. Here is a sample of the first few.

·        Lukewarm people attend church fairly regularly.

·        Lukewarm people give money to charity and to the church…as long as it doesn’t impinge on their standard of living.

·        Lukewarm people tend to choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict.

5.     Serving Leftovers to a Holy God

Francis starts the chapter and the video introduction saying this was a hard chapter to write. I’d say it was more of a harsh chapter. I appreciate how Francis can be “in your face” in a non-threatening way, but I couldn’t go along with how he said everything in this chapter.

His main argument is that people who aren’t sold out to God can really be Christians. He uses the parable of the sower as an example saying that he can’t see how the people in the rocky soil without root were really Christian. He also uses the church at Laodicea as an example saying that they didn’t sound like Christians either. To his credit, he said that he went back to a fresh reading of the Bible to come to these conclusions. I do agree that there are a lot of people who seem lukewarm who have no relationship with Jesus, but where does God draw the line. We all have times that we have slid away from God. I wish it weren’t true, but it is. Our relationship with God is pretty much like our other relationships. There are rocky times. The only difference is that with God, we can’t blame the other person. Taking this path to its end, one would come to believe that Christians can lose their salvation or add faith plus works.

Now, what can I agree with? Francis is right that we give leftovers to God and take comfort that we aren’t doing as badly as others or not as bad as we could be doing. This is wrong. We all need to take a fresh look at our love for God regularly. Is it the most important thing in our lives? Are we totally sold out? Would we give up anything and everything for Him? Too often, we wouldn’t, yet He does deserve and require all.

6.        When You’re in Love

This chapter drives home the point about how Christians should act when they are truly in love with God and not acting out of fear or obligation. If we truly loved God, we would have the time or ability to sin.

There is some really good stuff in this chapter. Francis uses a lot of Biblical references. Sadly, I didn’t seem to get as much out of it. Could it be that I am not ready to move to a deeper level of my love relationship with God? I hope not, but I will watch for further signs and get ready for a change.

7.     Your Best Life…Later

The title of this chapter is an obvious reaction to Joel Olsteen’s Your Best Life Now. In it, Francis first assures the reader that anyone can have this crazy love relationship. He points out how so many Biblical saints had problems that from the outside would seem to limit their love relationship with God.

He moves from there to a short discourse on Matthew 25, the sheep and the goats. While this passage seems to be more about social gospel (not in the bad sense), Francis uses it to show how a love of Jesus must flow to others. He moves from what we believe and feel to what we do in response.

The chapter ends with more Biblical references to back up the point.

8.     Profile of the Obsessed

Continuing the theme of how we act when we are in crazy love, this chapter does just what the title implies, defines a person obsessed with loving God. Again, here is a sample of the first few.

·        Lovers – People who are obsessed with Jesus give freely and openly with censure.

·        Risk Takers – People who are obsessed with Jesus aren’t consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else.

·        Friends of All – People who are obsessed with Jesus live lives that connect them with the poor in some way or another.

In general, Francis has laid out a great challenge. I question whether some of the statement above actually define an obsessed person or if they are simply some ways that obsession with God might play out in ones life.

9.     Who Really Lives that Way?

This chapter simply devotes section after section describing people who live the lifestyle that Francis is promoting. Some are from Francis’ church. Some are people he has met in his ministry. Some are from recent history. A few are from a century ago or more.

In fairness to Francis and his church, Cornerstone Simi really does seem to exemplify what the book is about. They donate over 50% of their undesignated gifts to other organizations and they chose not to build a new building and are trying to build a cheaper, outdoor amphitheater so that they could save $20 million for other work in God’s Kingdom.

10.         The Crux of the Matter

What does this book mean to me (the reader)? That’s the purpose of the final chapter. Francis admits that not everyone needs to take the same steps he has taken or his illustrative people have taken. But he won’t back down from the position that everyone needs to do something in response.

A friend of mine once said that Christians are like manure: spread them out and they help everything grow better, but keep them in one big pile and they stink horribly. [168]

His closing thoughts

“Now, close this book. Get on your knees before our holy, loving God. And then live the life with your friends, your family, parents, spouse, children, neighbors, enemies, and strangers that He has created and empowered you though the Holy Spirit to live. [175]