living to love

"We are not alone. Even now there are thousands of beings in heaven watching what is going on down here—a ‘great cloud of witnesses,’ the Scripture says. It reminds me that there is so much more to our existence than what we can see. What we do reverberates through the heavens and into eternity."

- Francis Chan, Crazy Love

2/15 20:25 - 40 notes

Lukewarm Christians?

[Someone] reblogged your post: Lukewarm people ask,

LUKEWARM CHRISTIAN is an oxymoron… There is NO such thing.. You either are all in it for The KINGDOM or you are NOT…

Francis Chan didn’t call them Lukewarm Christians, he called them Lukewarm people. Read Chapter 4 of his book Crazy Love for a longer description.

Read Revelation 3:14-22.

This article, “Lukewarm Christianity” by IGNITE offers vital context to this passage:

“Jesus knows their works. I hope we have noticed that he knows the works of everyone. They are not hot or cold, but lukewarm. Often a mistake is made in thinking that Jesus is saying that he would rather a person be fully devoted to God (hot) or not devoted at all to God (cold) rather than lukewarm. However, there is not a spiritual advantage before God to be a completely rebellious sinner. To understand the imagery we need to understand a little bit about the city of Laodicea. The city of Hieropolis, seven miles to the north, was known for its hot springs. The city of Colosse, less than 10 miles to the south, was known for its cold waters that were pure and drinkable. Laodicea had the unfortunate circumstance of having neither. When trying to pipe in the hot waters from Hieropolis, the water was lukewarm after the seven mile distance. The water was also dirty and impure once the water got to Laodicea. The picture Jesus is giving is that they are useless and valueless. Hot water has use and value. Cold water has use and value. But you, O Laodicean church, are lukewarm. You are not fit for healing or for drinking. Jesus is not saying, “Be saved or be lost.” Rather, Jesus is revealing the current useless state of these Christians just like their water supply.

Why are these Christians useless? What has happened that the Lord says that he wants to vomit them out of his mouth? They think they are rich because of their physical possessions that they have. However, they are not rich toward God. They are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. They are lukewarm Christians because they have not invested in God, but in this world. Their focus is not on the spiritual but on the physical and material.”

There are definitely lukewarm Christians, sadly… and yes, it does sound like an oxymoron because that is not the way it should be.

2/15 19:31 - 6 notes

"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."

- Francis Chan, Crazy Love (Preface)

11/8 19:07 - 36 notes

"We are a culture that relies on technology over community, a society in which spoken and written words are cheap, easy to come by, and excessive."

- Francis Chan, Crazy Love (Chapter 1)

10/24 00:41 - 20 notes

"Trying harder doesn’t work for me. Slowly I’ve learned to pray for God’s help and He has become my greatest love and desire."

- Francis Chan, Crazy Love (Chapter 10)

10/6 20:36 - 62 notes

"The fact is, 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."

- Francis Chan, Crazy Love (Chapter 6)

10/6 19:01 - 1,105 notes

“The irony is that while God doesn’t need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don’t really want Him most of the time. He treasures us and anticipates our departure from this earth to be with Him—and we wonder, indifferently, how much we have to do for Him to get by.” -Francis Chan, Crazy Love (Chapter 3)

10/6 18:57 - becausehelovedmefirst - 78 notes

"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. Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control."

- Francis Chan

9/12 15:04 - deprecatio - 245 notes

"The irony is that while God doesn’t need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don’t really want Him most of the time."

- Francis Chan

5/15 01:49 - 26 notes

“Without Him, people operate in their own strength and only accomplish human-sized results. The world is not moved by love or actions that are of human creation. And the church is not empowered to live differently from any other gathering of people without the Holy Spirit. But when believers live in the power of the Holy Spirit, the evidence in their lives is supernatural. The church cannot help but be different, and the world cannot help but notice.”

- Francis Chan (Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit)

5/15 01:09 - 3 notes