Crazy Love...Chapter 6

The question from last night: "So, how many facebook friends do you have?" Some of you have up towards 400 friends. The next question was, "How many of your facebook friends know you love Jesus?"...even harder: "How many of your facebook friends love Jesus too?"

Now, there is a difference between saying that you love God and actually loving God. Sometimes we just get caught up in the concept of loving God, instead of having an actual love relationship with the Person, God. That's the crux between intimacy vs. reverence. Most of us understand that we are to love God, but it gets lost in that concept. We are called to be in a love relationship with God. That's what makes Christianity distinct from "religion". Christianity is a living, breathing love-relationship with our Creator and Savior and NOT a list of "do's" and "don't's" in order to manipulate or "buy" God's love. That actually insults God.

So, how do we move from the idea of loving God to actually doing it? Francis Chan paints a great picture regarding this application. He says that it is not about trying harder. Instead, he wants us to view it as a cycle. Chan says, "It is a remarkable cycle: Our prayers for more love result in love, which naturally causes us to pray more, which results in more love...you have to stop loving and pursing Christ in order to sin. When you are pursuing love, running toward Christ, you don't have the opportunity to wonder, Am I doing this right? or Did I serve enough this week? When you are running toward Christ, you are freed up to serve, love, and give thanks without guilt, worry, or fear. As long as you are running, you are safe." (p. 104)

So, it's time to move from the concept of reverence toward real intimacy with God. If you are not feeling it, get on your knees and pray. Ask God to give you His love in order to love Him back and others along with Him. Chase after Him. As long as you run toward Him, you won't have time to be distracted by sin. Let Him change you. Ask Him to change you.

Galatians 5:13-14