Crazy Love

The core problem isn’t the fact that we’re lukewarm, halfhearted, 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. (Location 241)

Don’t we live instead as though God is created for us, to do our bidding, to bless us, and to take care of our loved ones? (Location 471)

Do you really believe that compared to God, “all the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing,” including you? (Location 496)

But many facets of God expand beyond our comprehension. He cannot be contained in this world, explained by our vocabulary, or grasped by our understanding. (Location 525)

When I am consumed by my problems—stressed out about my life, my family, and my job—I actually convey the belief that I think the circumstances are more important than God’s command to always rejoice. (Location 678)

Worry implies that we don’t quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what’s happening in our lives. (Location 686)

I want my two-fifths of a second to be about my making much of God. (Location 763)

Isn’t the easiest thing at this point to start living in a guarded, safe, controlled way? To stop taking risks (Location 805)

Stories of people who died after living godly lives are stories with happy endings. (Location 900)

“A man by his sin may waste himself, which is to waste that which on earth is most like God. This is man’s greatest tragedy and God’s heaviest grief.” (Location 913)

Nothing compares to being truly, exuberantly wanted by your children. (Location 1009)

The greatest good on this earth is God. Period. God’s one goal for us is Himself. (Location 1193)

I think most American churchgoers are the soil that chokes the seed because of all the thorns. Thorns are anything that distracts us from God. When we want God and a bunch of other stuff, then that means we have thorns in our soil. (Location 1268)

“Too much of the good life ends up being toxic, deforming us spiritually.”2 A lot of things are good by themselves, but all of it together keeps us from living healthy, fruitful lives for God. (Location 1274)

playing it safe; they are slaves to the god of control. This focus on safe living keeps them from sacrificing and risking for God. (Location 1550)

Is this idea of the non-fruit-bearing Christian something that we have concocted in order to make Christianity “easier”? So we can follow our own course while still calling ourselves followers of Christ? (Location 1738)

make in a week’s time. Which is more messed up—that we have so much compared to everyone else, or that we don’t think we’re rich? That on any given day we might flippantly call ourselves “broke” or “poor”? We are neither of those things. We are rich. Filthy rich. (Location 1835)

being rich is a serious disadvantage spiritually. (Location 1853)

For years I gave God leftovers and felt no shame. I simply took my eyes off Scripture and instead compared myself to others. The bones I threw at God had more meat on them than the bones others threw, so I figured I was doing fine. (Location 1878)

“But something is better than nothing!” some protest. Really, is it? Does anyone enjoy token praise? I sure don’t. (Location 1912)

“Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” (Location 1938)

The lives of many people who call themselves “Christians” in America lack manifestations of a vital and active faith. (Location 2010)

how we spend our time, what our money goes toward, and where we will invest our energy is equivalent to choosing God or rejecting Him. (Location 2059)

I need God to help me love God. And if I need His help to love Him, a perfect being, I definitely need His help to love other, fault-filled humans. Something mysterious, even supernatural must happen in order for genuine love for God to grow in our hearts. The Holy Spirit has to move in our lives. (Location 2213)

As long as we are pursuing Him, we are satisfied in Him. It is when we stop actively loving Him that we find ourselves restless and gravitating toward other means of fulfillment. (Location 2236)

There is nothing better than giving up everything and stepping into a passionate love relationship with God, the God of the universe who made galaxies, leaves, laughter, and me and you. (Location 2278)

when we obey God’s commands, we benefit. (Location 2330)

we naturally assume that if we look out for our own interests and concerns, we will be happy. But people who sacrifice for others will tell you that seasons of giving are the most rewarding of their lives. (Location 2331)

“This is true joy in life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” (Location 2338)

If you really want to experience God’s supernatural provision, then do as He says. Test Him. Give more than you can manage, and see how He responds. (Location 2369)

Do you want to see God more than you desire security? (Location 2418)

have been the biggest laughingstock on earth. Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy. Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers. (Location 2447)

We have to do things that cost us during our life on earth but will be more than worth it in eternity. (Location 2484)

Life is comfortable when you separate yourself from people who are different from you. That epitomizes what my life was like: characterized by comfort. (Location 2693)

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? (Location 2717)

the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. (Location 2724)

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. (Location 2729)

Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. (Location 2737)

What matters is that we spend ourselves. (Location 2761)

There has to be more to our faith than friendliness, politeness, and even kindness. (Location 2785)

It is just this sort of love that is crazy to the world: true love, a kind found nowhere but through Christ. (Location 2807)

Do you give to those who cannot repay you? To those who would do you harm, if they could? To those who have already done you harm? This is Christ’s love. (Location 2833)

The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing—to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. (Location 2846)

The world is always bewildered by its saints. (Location 2849)

we’ve made safety our highest priority. We’ve elevated safety to the neglect of whatever God’s best is, whatever would bring God the most glory, or whatever would accomplish His purposes in our lives and in the world. (Location 2867)

I realized that everyone I knew had enough, that I didn’t know many people who were truly in need, (Location 2885)

People who are obsessed with Jesus live lives that connect them with the poor in some way or another. Obsessed people believe that Jesus talked about money and the poor so often because it was really important to Him (Location 2905)

If one person “wastes” away his day by spending hours connecting with God, and the other person believes he is too busy or has better things to do than worship the Creator and Sustainer, who is the crazy one? If one person invests her or his resources in the poor—which, according to Matthew 25, is giving to Jesus Himself—and the other extravagantly remodels a temporary dwelling that will not last beyond his few years left on this earth, who is the crazy one? (Location 2928)

Why is it that the story of someone who has actually done what Jesus commands resonates deeply with us, but we then assume we could never do anything so radical or intense? (Location 2937)

It hit me that the students were talking about me, not God. I was standing before a holy God and robbing Him of the glory that was rightfully His. (Location 2962)

It’s pride, plain and simple, that keeps me from giving God all the glory and keeping some of it for myself. (Location 2971)

A person who is obsessed with Jesus knows that the sin of pride is always a battle. Obsessed people know that you can never be “humble enough,” and so they seek to make themselves less known and Christ more known (Location 2980)

Obsessed people orient their lives around eternity; they are not fixed only on what is here in front of them. (Location 3066)

People who are obsessed are raw with God; they do not attempt to mask the ugliness of their sins or their failures. Obsessed people don’t put it on for God; He is their safe place, where they can be at peace. (Location 3116)

How much of your money is spent on yourself, and how much is directed toward God’s kingdom? (Location 3128)

God wants His Word to be a delight to us, so much so that we meditate on it day and night. (Location 3133)

There are reasons that we are where we are and who we are, and they aren’t random. (Location 3152)

The Bible teaches that true joy is formed in the midst of the difficult seasons of life. (Location 3161)

more concerned with his or her character than comfort. (Location 3164)

Marva and her husband live off his teacher’s salary, which is not much. Despite Marva’s many medical problems, she still refuses to take more money for herself. (Location 3331)

her 1980 Volkswagen Bug with its broken heater helps her focus more on prayer and to better identify with those in need. (Location 3336)

the profits from his concerts and albums went directly to his church. They paid him a small salary and gave the rest of the money away. (Location 3359)

During his lifetime, a million and a half pounds went through George’s hands in the form of donations. He directed every cent toward those in need. (Location 3442)

This year we committed to giving away 50 percent of our budget. (Location 3566)

“Never make a principle out of your experience; let God be as original with other people as He is with you.”1 (Location 3647)

true faith means holding nothing back. It means putting every hope in God’s fidelity to His promises. (Location 3681)

…” If we love, then we obey. Period. This sort of matter-of-fact obedience is part of what it means to live a life of faith. (Location 3707)

I’ve made it a commitment to consistently put myself in situations that scare me and require God to come through. When I survey my life, I realize that those times have been the most meaningful and satisfying of my life. (Location 3711)

remember that if I stop pursuing Christ, I am letting our relationship deteriorate. (Location 3728)

I remind myself that I could die right after I finish, so what would I want my last words to be? (Location 3733)

What we do reverberates through the heavens and into eternity. (Location 3739)

It is individual people living Spirit-filled lives that will change the church. (Location 3759)

how will you answer the King when He says, “What did you do with what I gave you?” (Location 3827)

I always want this to be the greatest message I’ll preach in case I’m not here to give another (Location 3918)

a person’s faith is shown through his actions. (Location 3935)

If someone has the Holy Spirit in them, there will be fruit, and there will not be a lukewarm life. (Location 3941)

We’ve trained ourselves to believe that if we’re convicted, our job is done. (Location 3958)

It’s not that this lifestyle should be crazy to us. It should be the only thing that makes sense. (Location 4000)