I'm in the middle of a book that is forcing me to think in some new ways. The book, "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan, addresses the amazing, unfathomable, furious love of our eternal God, and what our real response should be- total and complete surrender and abandon to Him. The first three chapters describe the wonder and majesty of God as found in His Word the Bible, and the infinitely complex, breath-taking universe He has made to display His glory. Amazing chapters. I found myself stopping often to search the Scriptures Chan would reference, and just let them sink in.

The chapters I'm in right now, 4 & 5, address the all-too-often inadequate response we humans make to this indescribable God. Using the parable Jesus told of the sower, the seed, and the soils, Chan makes a case for the hard truth that much of the American Church is the "thorny soil"-the Gospel is sown among us, but for far too many, it gets choked out by life's worries and the pursuit of prosperity and pleasure. Chan writes, "A relationship with God simply cannot grow when money, sins, activities, favorite sports teams, addictions, or commitments are piled on top." Then using the Revelation 3 description of lukewarm, half-hearted, nominally-committed people, Chan systematically contrasts it with passages that describe Jesus' call to whole-hearted followship. Chan's assertion- a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron. Jesus calls us to "deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me." All or nothing. Chan states, "The thought of a person calling himself a Christian without being a devoted follower of Christ is absurd." This is found throughout the Bible, everywhere you look.

He's not saying that if you go through periods of stagnation or struggle you are not a Christian, as we all fall and fail in our attempts to follow Christ. But he is saying that if a person claims to have "prayed a prayer" inviting Christ in their life at some point, yet Jesus only gets fitted in when & where its convenient, getting the "leftovers", then its likely that person never really gave their life to Christ. Chan asserts, "Following Christ isn't something that can be done half-heartedly or on the side. It is not a label we can display when it is useful. It must be central to everything we do and are." All or nothing.

Yet how many of us live like this? How many of us are willing to say to God that He can have whatever He wants from us? That whole-hearted abandon to Him is more important than any other person or thing in this life? That nothing in this life really matters, unless it is about loving God and demonstrating His love to a world that desperately needs Him? After reading to them Jesus' final parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46, I told the kids in both hours of RockiTown Sunday that, "How much I love other people is good evidence of how much I really love God."

Love- from God, for God, for others. Nothing else really matters.