To just read the bible, attend church and avoid big sins – is this passionate wholehearted love for God?
Francois Felon, The Seeking Heart
One of my favourite speakers/authors is a guy named Francis Chan. He is not afraid to say what he thinks and mostly what he thinks is worth thinking about. So here are a couple of thoughts from his book Crazy Love (p 24).
“We need to stop giving people excuses not to believe in God. You’ve probably heard the expression ‘I believe in God, just not organized religion’. I don’t think people would say that if the church truly lived like we are called to live. The expression would change to ‘I can’t deny what the church does, but I don’t believe in their God.’ At least then they’d address their rejection of God rather than use the church as a scapegoat.”
In terms of the spiritual health of the church he comments ….. “The core problem isn’t the fact that we are lukewarm, or halfhearted, or stagnant Christians. The crux of it all …. 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 He is 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.”