Crazy Love by Francis Chan

Here is a book that has been given quite a lot of praise in the past weeks and months. Crazy Love is the first book written by Francis Chan, pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California.

Now first off, let me say that this book, in my opinion, is not putting before it’s readers any new idea. The basis of the book is this: God the creator is showing his creation (us) a crazy kind of love, a love that is undeserved. Because of our sin our just God has every right to kill us, but instead, he sends us his Love in the form of His Son Jesus Christ, sacrificing him to a death that would take away the sins of the world. We, as the rebellious creation, can partake of this love, and in doing so, should fall into and live a life in a crazy love with our savior. I believe the verse is Matthew 22:37, ““You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

This is nothing you have not heard before if you have spent any amount of time in church. But I think the reason why it is impactful, so seemingly different and radical an idea, is because we as the American church have really made church a dull obligation that we have all figured out. All Chan is trying to do is to tell the Church that we need to fall in “crazy love” with Jesus Christ. That should be the starting point, if we are in crazy love with Christ, then we will act rightly, we will worship with all we have, we will appreciate the greatness of God.

In Chapter One, Francis Chan really just tries to get the reader to stop and look at the world around them created by God. This first chapter is really there to try and bring the reader back into a state of awe towards the creator.

Chapter Two is the chapter about human mortality. This chapter is very much about not wasting your life, about realizing how fleeting the human life is, and to spend our times praising and loving and remembering the God who created and loves us.

In Chapter Three, Chan really talks about the Crazy Love that God the Father has for us. A lot of what I wrote above is contained in this chapter.

Chapter Four is entitled the Profile of the Lukewarm. It is really designed to be a tool to help the reader look critically at there life and see which areas of the life are lukewarm towards God. He focuses the chapter around Revelation 3:15-16 which says, “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

Chapter Five is a chapter on offering your first fruits to God. It is a chapter basically about not holding anything back from our God; being willing to say to God that he can have anything.

Chapter Six is talking about what it might be like being in love with God. A lot of examples are pulled from being in love with a significant other.

Chapter Seven is primarily about how for the Christian, the best life comes later, in eternity. Chan talks a lot about how life for the believer will not always be easy, but we must remember our better life comes later.

In Chapter Eight, it is simply what it might look like to be people who live a life while being obsessively in love with Christ. In Chapter Nine, Chan offers real life examples of what it might look like to live that way.

In Chapter Ten, Chan concludes by bringing the fleeting life back into perspective. He asks the question of whether we want to be doing what we are currently doing when Jesus comes back or not. He concludes saying that we should hopefully be loving God with all we have, persevering through this race of life, and falling in crazy love with our savior.

All in all, this is a great book. I recommend this book to everyone. And if it helps, there are helpful videos online at www.crazylovebook.com that go with the chapters and some other times in the book when Francis tells the reader to watch these videos.