Crazy Comments

In reading through Chapter 5 in Francis Chan's book, Crazy Love, I was faced with many questions. Chan does not play around in Chapter 4 (about lukewarm Christians) or Chapter 5 (about giving God our "leftovers"). I felt like I had gone 12 rounds with a prized fighter after reading these chapters!

While Chan's writing is compelling, I'd have to say it's also somewhat controversial. There's no way I can really go into all of it right here, but here is a sampling of the quotes from this chapter:

• To put it plainly, churchgoers who are lukewarm are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven. (p. 84)
• The thought of a person calling himself a “Christian” without being a devoted follower of Christ is absurd. (p. 85)
• Some people claim that we can be Christians without necessarily being disciples. (p. 87)
• To call somebody a Christian simply because he does some Christian-y things is giving false comfort to the unsaved. (p. 88)
• God gets a scrap or two only because we feel guilty for giving Him nothing. (p. 91)
• Many of us believe we have as much of God as we want right now, a reasonable portion of God among all the other things in our lives. (p. 96)

But, here's the question that had me reeling...and the one we discussed at length this morning in my guys' study:

• “Can I go to heaven without truly and faithfully loving Jesus?” Chan says this is the unthinkable question that most of us ask ourselves.

I agree with much of what Chan writes. But, I think through it all we must remember that we have a loving, merciful Father who pours out His grace on us - and it's never because we deserve it!

I think it's dangerous to make people begin to question their salvation. None of us are worthy of God's love...but He gives it freely anyway. I agree that a Christ-follower who has a thriving relationship with God will have have evidence of fruit in his life, while those who only live for themselves have a "dead faith."

And, I do think a lot of people who profess to be Christians are not necessarily followers of the Way (his disciples).

But, I cannot say that "lukewarm Christians" will not be in heaven. Last I checked, we all fall short of the mark, and the only requirement to be included among God's children is to accept the gift of His son, and invite him to be a part of our lives.

I doesn't excuse sin by any means. But, I would much prefer to err on the side of God's grace rather than God's disappointment with His children.

Thank goodness I'm not God. I'll leave the judging to Him.