This is how God feels about us and it’s how we as Christians should feel about God.Īnd when we do these things, that love should flow extravagantly into the rest of our lives. And you don’t do so resentfully or reluctantly but with joy.
You will travel or work or sacrifice to make their lives better. You find the flimsiest ways to bring them up in conversation with other people. Instead, Chan reminds us that the Bible compares Christ and the Church to a bride and groom and that when you are in love with someone – head-over-heels obsessed – you want to do everything for that person. Don’t look for how little you can get by with or how much you can get away with and still get into Heaven. While his intent isn’t to simply strike fear in his reader’s hearts or to make you question your salvation, Chan is challenging the church to do more than the bare minimum.
My caution to you is this: Do not assume you are good soil. One of the most compelling points in the book for me was when Chan, speaking of Jesus’ parable of the sower, says, Chan is calling Christians to question whether or not they are really living as if they believe in and love God. Chan, the pastor of a church in southern California, explicitly details what a lukewarm Christian might look like and reminds us that, as stated in Revelation, God will spit the lukewarm Christians out of His mouth. This book is a warning cry against lukewarm Christianity.
To throw out a “Thanks for everything, God!” and not give much further thought to the creator of the universe. And while I believe that my job as Pearl’s mom and my role as Peter’s partner in life are truly valuable and important, it’s so easy to be complacent. It’s really easy for me to live in this bubble of suburban motherhood where my biggest concerns are Pearl’s nap schedule and what am I making for dinner and how often do I really need to dust my house. I think every day how fortunate I am, how much I have. After some big struggles in the past year and a half, life has gotten so good for me. It’s a book for church-going, middle class, happy with their lives Christians. That said, this is a book for Christians and I have to look at it as such. It wasn’t until the last couple of chapters that I really felt engaged. The book is short and certainly not complex but it took me a long time to get through. I’ve heard great things about Chan as a speaker but it unfortunately seems to be the case that, though he may be a great preacher, he is not a great writer. In the first instance, I didn’t love this book. There are two ways I have to approach a book like this.
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