I've been on the search for a good, God book. Not so much a devotional or a workbook, but something that I could read, reflect on, and apply to my life. My small group leader, Becki, recommended the book Crazy Love. She works at our church and said that many people are reading it. I figured I might as well give it a try. I've read a few chapters and I'm loving it. I'm certainly not going to promise anything (because as soon as I promise I will post things here I seem to fall short) but I hope to post some excerpts from the book and some of my thoughts here. One of my goals for 2010 is to focus on blogging more God stuff. One of the reasons I started blogging 3+ year ago was to share my faith, the ups and downs of my walk with Christ, and spiritual things I was learning and wrestling with. I've grown very self centered here on the blog and I want to find more balance again. It helps me to be consistent with my time with God if I challenge myself to share some thoughts a few times a week. I would love if you would comment and share your thoughts with me.
Crazy Love {Thoughts and
Reflections…Preface}
Many people
see Christianity as this…fight your desires in order to please God. Of course when we fail, which is daily, we
feel guilty and distant from God. I hate
to admit this, but there have been many times in my life when this is exactly
how my attitude towards God has been. I’ve
been guilty of having the attitude of “be good, do the “Christian” thing and He
will bless you.” The fact of the matter
is that He has blessed me abundantly in spite of myself. He is a merciful God who showers His children
with grace and blessings every second of the day.
Here’s
one of many excerpts of Crazy Love that really hit me.
Our core problem isn’t
the fact that we are lukewarm, half-hearted, or stagnant Christians. The crux of it all is why we are this way,
and it is because we have an inaccurate view of God. We see him as a benevolent Being who is
satisfied when people manage to fit Him into their lives in some small
way. We forget that God never had an
identity crisis. He knows that He’s
great and deserves to be the center of our lives. Jesus came humbly as a servant, but He never
begs us to give Him some small part of ourselves. He commands everything from His
followers.
God’s
never had an identity crisis. He is the
great I AM…always has been, always will be.
That’s so comforting to me. God
is constant. He doesn’t love me more some
days than other days. He doesn’t take it
personally when I fall short. His grace
is always available. He doesn’t move
away from His children, but He does allow them to move away from Him.