"Crazy Love" Book Review

“Crazy Love” by Francis Chan isn’t the type of book I normally read. I tend to pass over the flashy, colorful, “new” books at the Christian book stores because there are a lot of shallow books out there. But several friends and family members highly recommended that I read “Crazy Love,” so I added it to my reading list.

 

Several months passed by and after our trip to Haiti, I finally requested the book from the library. I have to confess that the effect of the book on me was probably lessened because of the fact that I read “Radical” by David Platt and “The Hole in Our Gospel” by Richard Stearns just before I read “Crazy Love.” I feel bad that it wasn’t quite as impacting to me personally, but it’s still one that has a lot of impact in it!

 

Chan starts off the book by painting a picture of how BIG God really is. Too often we don’t have the type of awe, wonder, and reverence for God that we should. We forget the amazing fact that the God of the universe—who created EVERYTHING—loves us with a sacrificial love. We also forget how small we really are. Our lives can end at any second, but we don’t really live like that’s true.

 

The chapter of the book that really hit me the most was Chapter Four, titled “The Profile of the Lukewarm.” You can read more on how that chapter convicted me here.

 

The other chapters of the book, like “Serving Leftovers to a Holy God,” “When You’re in Love,” and “Profile of the Obsessed” talk about what our attitude towards God should be. “Your Best Life. . . Later” and “Who Really Lives That Way?” discuss how we are to live out our lives as followers of Christ. “Who Really Lives That Way?” gives many examples of people who have lived out their lives with radical abandonment and devoted obedience to God. They lived their lives fully surrendered to the Lord and what He called them to do.

 

One of my favorite quotes from the book is found on page 168: "We say things like, 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,' and 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart.' Then we live and plan like we don't believe God even exists. We try to set our lives up so everything will be fine even if God doesn't come through. But true faith means holding nothing back. It means putting every hope in God's fidelity to His promises."

Another favorite quote is the following: “Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy. Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.” I shared a bit more about these two quotes here.

Although the ideas in “Crazy Love” were not new to me, it was a great reminder to abandon lukewarm Christianity in favor of living out my life overflowing with love for God and for the lost. I definitely recommend it!