Crazy Love - Chapter 8

Obsessed: To have the mind excessively preoccupied with a single emotion or topic.

Have you ever been obsessed with anything? I have been trying to think about all the different things that I have been obsessed with over the years...and quite a few have come to mind. Most recently I have been obsessed with things like Halo 2 and 3, different time wasting games on facebook like jetman, mafia wars, mouse hunt, or college town.

Looking back through my life, I have been obsessed with a lot of different things...but unfortunately most of the time my obsessions aren't with the one thing that they should be with. As a Christian, I am called to be obsessed with Jesus and to live my life in Christ. I think that Christians as a whole fall short in this area, myself included. What would it look like if everyone that claimed to be a Christian lived a life being obsessed with Jesus and spending all of their time/efforts/money fulfilling the things that Jesus was all about? I for one think that people would have a much more positive view of Christians.

I want to be completely and utterly obsessed with Christ. So much that my life absolutely revolves around Him and I would feel worthless if I'm not living up to the standards that He has set.

I want to...

• give freely and openly
• live life in faith and step out of my comfort zone
• be connected to the poor and needy in some way
• be more concerned with obeying God than fulfilling the status quo
• strive to always be more humble
• serve better
• think about others more than myself
• have a "Kingdom" mindset and orient my life around eternity
• have a passion for God above all else
• be open and transparent with God
• have a more intimate relationship with Him
• be more joyful in every circumstance
• be faithful to Christ in every aspect of my life

How about you?

Crazy Love - Chapter 7

This chapter was a hard chapter to read. Not because it used big words or long run-on sentences that confused me, but rather because I didn't like what I was reading. Don't get me wrong, it was a great chapter and everything that Chan said was really good and really truthful...but I didn't like what I read because it really convicted me. It made me realize that I'm not living up to the potential that Jesus has called everyone to. It made me realize that my priorities are screwed up and I need to change some things.

Yesterday at Calvary Christian Church, Scott preached on sacrificial giving. I left feeling like I needed to take a serious look at my life and re-evaluate how I am doing in that area. Today, the chapter I read was about sacrificial giving. I think maybe God is trying to tell me something...

For the longest time I have struggled with giving/tithing because I always viewed my money as just that, my money. I always had this selfish thought in my head that I needed the money more than the church...I was missing a huge point. So while I was sitting in church yesterday and Scott kept repeating over and over that everything you possess is GOD'S (your car, your kids, your money, etc.) it kinda hit me hard. Something needs to change, and that something is me.

It all boils down to faith and trust. I need to have faith that even though I think that I don't have any extra money to give...God will provide and everything will work out. I need to trust that God will bless me if I give willingly and sacrificially. I need to learn to better give out of love...because as Chan said love is where giving starts. (that is my paraphrase) "For God so LOVED the world that He GAVE..." (John 3:16)

Over the next few days I am going to be taking a long look at how I can better give...sacrificially...willingly...and out of love. Pray for me.

Also, if this is something that you struggle with as well, I want to encourage you to listen to Scott's sermon from Calvary Christian Church and also check out chapter 7 of Crazy Love by Francis Chan...it challenged me, maybe it can do the same for you.

Crazy Love - Chapter 6

Sometimes I think that I'm really bad at loving. When I look at people that I know...it always seems like they love people so much more than I do. I find myself looking at people and judging them or finding ways to justify not loving them...like someone that might annoy me or people that drive too slow on the highway. It makes me think of my dad, knowing that there have to be some people that annoy him (myself included) and people that he might not always enjoy being around...he always makes it a point to love them. I wish that I could do that more often.

In chapter 6, there is a section that talks about breaking free from preconceived notions of love and loving like Christ intended. Chan quoted a few verses from Galatians 5 that really made me think...its talks about how we are called to be free and not to use our freedom to indulge in our sinful nature...but rather to love. I had never really thought about that before. Through Christ we have been set free, but most of the time we just go right back to the sin that we were indulging in before we came to God, like a dog returns to its vomit. Jesus calls us to be more than that. We are set free so that we can love! God wants to change us. Jesus died to change us. Not so that we keep sinning.

We need to let God change us. I need to let God change me. My prayer today is that I would be able to love more like Christ...that I would be able to see Christ in others and love them. Will you make that your prayer today?