Francis Chan

“James 2:19- 'You believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that- and shudder.' God doesn't just want us to have good theology; He wants us to know and love Him.”

“[We seem to ask] 'Can I go to heaven without truly and faithfully loving Jesus?”

“Jesus' intention in this parable was to compare the only good soil to the ones that were not legitimate alternatives. To Him, there was one option for a true believer.”

“Is this idea of the non-fruit bearing Christian something that we have concocted in order to make Christianity 'easier?' ...so that we can follow our own course while still calling ourselves followers of Christ?”

“He wants all or nothing.”

“He is saying that lukewarm, halfhearted following is useless, that it sickens our souls. He is saying that this kind of salt is not even fit 'for the manure pile.' [Luke 14:34-35]”

“Jesus asks for everything, but we try to give Him less.”

“Jesus didn't say that if you wanted to follow Him you could do it in a lukewarm manner. He said, 'Take up your cross and follow Me.”

“Lukewarm people do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they never have to. They don't have to trust God if something unexpected happens- they have their savings account. They don't need God to help them- they have their retirement plan in place. They don't genuinely seek out what life God would have them live- they have life figured and mapped out. They don't depend on God on a daily basis- their refrigerators are full and, for the most part, they are in good health. The truth is, their lives wouldn't look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God.”

“Lukewarm people feel secure because they attend church, made a profession of faith at age twelve, were baptized, come from a Christian family, vote Republican, or live in America. Just as the prophets in the Old Testament warned Israel that they were not safe just because they lived in the land of Israel, so we are not safe just because we wear the label 'Christian' or because some people persist in calling us a 'Christian nation.”

“Lukewarm people are continually concerned with playing it safe; they are slaves to the god of control. This focus on safe living keeps them from sacrificing and risking for God.”

“Lukewarm people gauge their morality or 'goodness' by comparing themselves to the secular world. They feel satisfied that while they aren't as hard-core for Jesus as so-and-so, they are nowhere as horrible as the guy down the street.”

“Lukewarm people call 'radical' what Jesus expected of all His followers.”

“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?”

“I quickly found that the American church is a difficult place to fit in if you want to live out New Testament Christianity. The goals of American Christianity are often a nice marriage, children who don't swear, and good church attendance. Taking the words of Christ literally, and seriously, is rarely considered. That's for the 'radicals' who are 'unbalanced' and who go 'overboard.' Most of us want a balanced life we can control, that is safe, and that does not involve suffering.”

“The fact is, He just wasn't interested in those who fake it.”

“In the United States, numbers impress us. We gauge the success of an event by how many people attend or come forward. We measure churches by how many members they boast. We are wowed by big crowds.”

“He persists in loving us with unending, outrageous love.”

“So why, when we constantly offend Him and we are so unlovable and unloving, does God persist in loving us?.... [W]hy does God still love us, despite us? I do not have an answer to this question. But I know that if God's mercy didn't exist, there would be no hope. No matter how good we tried to be, we would be punished because of our sins.”

“God will ensure my success in accordance with His plan, not mine.”

“My existence was not random, nor was it an accident. God knew who He was creating, and He designed met for a specific work. [Ephesians 2:10]”

“Jeremiah 1:4-5 - 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart....' ...God knew me before He made me.”

“Over time, I realized that when we love God, we naturally run to Him- frequently and zealously. Jesus didn't command that we have a regular time with Him each day. Rather, He tells us to 'love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' He called this the 'first and greatest commandment' (Matt. 22:37-38). The results are intimate prayer and study of His Word. Our motivation changes from guilt to love.”

“The only problem is that it was a concept I was aught, not something I implicitly knew o be true. For years, I 'got' God's love in my head, checked the right answer on the 'what God is like' test, but didn't fully understand it with my heart.”

“Don't let yourself forget. Soak it in an keep remembering what is true. He is everything.”

“Isn't the easiest thing at this point to start living in a guarded, safe, controlled way? To sop taking risks and to be ruled by our fears of what could happen? Turning inward is one way to respond; the other is to acknowledge our lack of control and reach out for God's help. IF life were stable, I'd never need God's help. Since it's not, I reach out for Him regularly. I am thankful for the unknowns and that I don't have control because it makes me run to God.”

“Frankly, you need to get over yourself. It might sound harsh, but that's seriously what it means [1 Corinthians 10:31].”

“But it isn't up to us, mostly because none of us are good.”

“Don't we live instead as though God is created for us, to do our bidding, to bless us, and to take care of our loved ones?”

“Not being able to understand God is frustrating, but it is ridiculous for us to think we have the right to limit God to something we are capable to comprehending.”

“I hope it affirms your desire for 'more God'- even if you are surrounded by people who feel they have 'enough God'.”

“...to think biblically rather than conventionally, to be part of a body where radical living is becoming the norm.”

“I grew up believing in God without having a clue what He is like. I called myself a Christian, was pretty involved in church, and tried to stay away from all of the things that 'good Christians' avoid- drinking, drugs, sex, swearing. Christianity was simple: fight your desires in order to please God. Whenever I failed (which was often), I'd walk around feeling guilty and distant from God. In hindsight, I don't think my church's teachings were incorrect, just incomplete. My view of God was narrow and small.”

“I think it's far too easy to blame the American church without acknowledging that we are each part of the church and therefore responsible.”

“...and wondered if we in the church are missing it.”

“Heavenly Father, thank You so much for Your grace. Your forgiveness is SO good that I struggle with believing it at times. Thank You for rescuing me from myself and giving me Your Holy Spirit. Your love is better than life.”

“Worry implies that we don't quite trust God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives. Stress says the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace towards others, or our tight grip of control.Basically, these two behaviors communicate that it's okay to sin and not trust God because the stuff in my life is somehow exceptional. Both worry and stress reek of arrogance. They declare our tendency to forget that we've been forgiven, that our lives are brief ... and that in the context of God's strength, our problems are small, indeed.”

“Yes, it is God who works in you. And, yes, there is work for you to do.Yes, the Spirit empowers you to do the work. And, yes, you do the work.”

“God is not just one thing we add to the mix called life. He wants an invitation from us to permeate everything and every part of us.”

“The world is not moved by love or actions that are of human creation. And the church is not empowered to live differently from any other gathering of people without the Holy Spirit. But when believers live in the power of the Spirit, the evidence in their lives is supernatural. The church cannot help but be different, and the world cannot help but notice.”

“If a guy were dating my daughter but didn't want to spend the gas money to come pick her up or refused to buy her dinner because it cost too much, I would question whether he were really in love with her In the same way, I question whether many American churchgoers are really in love with God because they are so hesitant to do anything for Him." Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God”

“It is easy to use the phrase 'God's will for my life' as an excuse for inaction or even disobedience. ... My hope is that instead of searching for 'God's will for my life' each of us would learn to seek hard after 'the Spirit's leading in my life today.' May we learn to pray for an open and willing heart, to surrender to the Spirit's leading with that friend, child, spouse, circumstance, or decision in our lives right now.”

“Why would we need to experience the Comforter if our lives are already comfortable?”

“...there is still a need for those of us nestled deep within the Christian bubble to look beyond the status quo and critically assess the degree to which we are really living biblically.”

“In my desire to distance myself from sadistic Christians who revel in the idea of wrath and punishment, I may have crossed a line. Refusing to teach a passage of Scripture is just as wrong as abusing it.I really believe it's time for some of us to stop apologizing for God and start apologizing to Him for being embarrassed by the ways He has chosen to reveal Himself.”

“God is compassionate and just, loving and holy, wrathful and forgiving. WE can't sideline His more difficult attributes to make room for the palatable ones.”

“God will not be tolerated. He instructs us to worship and fear Him.In our world, where hundreds of things distract us from God, we have to intentionally and consistently remind ourselves of Him.Because we don’t often think about the reality of who God is, we quickly forget that He is worthy to be worshiped and loved. We are to fear Him.The answer to each of these questions is simply this: because He’s God. He has more of a right to ask us why so many people are starving. As much as we want God to explain himself to us, His creation, we are in no place to demand that He give an account to us.Can you worship a God who isn’t obligated to explain His actions to you? Could it be your arrogance that makes you think God owes you an explanation?If God is truly the greatest good on this earth, would He be loving us if He didn’t draw us toward what is best for us (even if that happens to be Himself)? Doesn’t His courting, luring, pushing, calling, and even “threatening” demonstrate His love? If He didn’t do all of that, wouldn’t we accuse Him of being unloving in the end, when all things are revealed?Has your relationship with God actually changed the way you live? Do you see evidence of God’s kingdom in your life? Or are you choking it out slowly by spending too much time, energy, money, and thought on the things of this world?Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next.Jesus’ call to commitment is clear: He wants all or nothing.Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.If life is a river, then pursuing Christ requires swimming upstream. When we stop swimming, or actively following Him, we automatically begin to be swept downstream.How could we think for even a second that something on this puny little earth compares to the Creator and Sustainer and Savior of it all?True faith means holding nothing back; it bets everything on the hope of eternity.When you are truly in love, you go to great lengths to be with the one you love. You’ll drive for hours to be together, even if it’s only for a short while. You don’t mind staying up late to talk. Walking in the rain is romantic, not annoying. You’ll willingly spend a small fortune on the one you’re crazy about. When you are apart from each other, it’s painful, even miserable. He or she is all you think about; you jump at any chance to be together.There is nothing better than giving up everything and stepping into a passionate love relationship with God, the God of the universe who made galaxies, leaves, laughter, and me and you.Do you recognize the foolishness of seeking fulfillment outside of Him?Are you ready and willing to make yourself nothing? To take the very nature of a servant? To be obedient unto death?True love requires sacrifice.What are you doing right now that requires faith?God doesn’t call us to be comfortable.If one person “wastes” away his day by spending hours connecting with God, and the other person believes he is too busy or has better things to do than worship the Creator and Sustainer, who is the crazy one?Am I loving my neighbor and my God by living where I live, by driving what I drive, by talking how I talk?”If I stop pursuing Christ, I am letting our relationship deteriorate.The way we live out our days is the way we will live our lives.What will people say about your life in heaven? Will people speak of God’s work and glory through you? And even more important, how will you answer the King when He says, “What did you do with what I gave you?”

“Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy. Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.”

“Following Christ isn't something that can be done halfheartedly 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.”

“What are you doing right now that requires faith?”