Review of Crazy Love by Francis Chan

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A romantic fiction? What is Crazy Love? According to Francis Chan it falls on the preeminent commandment which is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." The first three chapters develops very, very well the idea of the absolute sovereignty, transcendence, and magnitude of God. How could a God like this love us, who are so insignificant compared to his holiness? That is why it is crazy, and requires a consequent crazy sort-of love in return. Francis spends a lot of pages dealing with the concept of being lukewarm--and defines it based on Rev. 3:15-18. According to Chan "church goers who are "lukewarm" are not Christians (pg. 84). Chan's book is intentionally written to a North American church that says, "I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing" (Rev. 3:15-18). So he spends a lot of time about the importance of getting past our innate greed and giving generously away to those who are in need. He provides several first hand examples of what this looks like from contemporary Christianity and historical (like George Muller). Taken to the extreme (and I risk appearing lukewarm according to Chan), this view can possibly diminish the ability for capital generation for the glory of God and the bolstering of ministry projects from those profits. I was very thankful to read in the last chapter of Chan's book the importance of balance on this issue--just wish it came a bit earlier in the book. I do think that Chan's provocative tone is intentionally so because of the opulence of most of the North American church at large and specifically in his own Southern California context.



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