A Brief Review of "Crazy Love"

I wrote a review about the book "Crazy Love: Overwhelmed By A Relentless God" over at the Amazon.com website. Here is my review:

Perhaps it is not appropriate to write a review when one has only read the first few chapters of a book. However, while reading some of the negative reviews here I felt compelled and led to write this.

How can any Christian say that Chan's book isn't about God's love when it is stated so clearly by the end of chapter two? The statement that Chan shares - that "He (God) is everything" combined with the knowledge of the Bible verse of John 3:16 is enough to make one realize the "crazy" love that God has for us! Jesus Christ is God's gift of love - and there is no greater love in the universe!

Challenging Christians to FOLLOW Jesus is a great endeavor that each and every pastor should encourage. I suspect that those who object to such challenges may, in fact, be feeling some guilt within their own soul and spirit (I certainly have!) for lacking what Chan is describing as ways to more openly follow Jesus? It's a sobering thing - and a jolt to the heart to realize that we may never completely "arrive" this side of heaven, in our efforts to be complete followers of Jesus. However, we can continue to try and improve our walk with Christ each and every day of our lives. This is known as sanctification - and it is an ongoing experience that lasts throughout our entire lives!

I thought that Chan's analogy of "the movie of life" being about God and not about us was brilliant! He even goes so far as to state that this "movie" isn't about the great prophets and individuals we all know from the text of the Bible. For me, this is consistent with what Jesus articulated when Martha was complaining that she was doing all the work while Mary just sat at the feet of Jesus listening to his teaching. In Luke 10:42 Jesus said, "...Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." No doubt both women loved Jesus and they were both serving him. It's just that Martha thought that Mary's way was inferior to her own. It brings to mind that sometimes we can be so busy doing things for Jesus that we aren't spending any time with him! The lesson: don't let your service to him become self-serving!

Chan writes, "the point of your life is to point to Him." And this is something that each of us can do in small and big ways throughout our lifetime, in whatever we are doing. We are to give the glory to God because after all, it is He who is worthy!