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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Francis Chan
Started reading
October 27, 2018
Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15). And our question quickly becomes even more unthinkable: Can I go to heaven without truly and faithfully loving Jesus?
I don’t see anywhere in Scripture how the answer to that question could be yes.
Some people claim that we can be Christians without necessarily becoming disciples. I wonder, then, why the last thing Jesus told us was to go into the world, making disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all that He commanded?
They assumed God was pleased because they had sacrificed something. God described this practice as evil. Leftovers are not merely inadequate; from God’s point of view (and lest we forget, His is the only one who matters), they’re evil. Let’s stop calling it “a busy schedule” or “bills” or “forgetfulness.” It’s called evil. God is holy. In heaven exists a Being who decides whether or not I take another breath. This holy God deserves excellence, the very best I have.
God wanted the temple gates shut. The weak sacrifices of the laid-back priests were an insult to Him. He was saying that no worship is better than apathetic worship. I wonder how many church doors God wants to shut today.
Mark Buchanan writes, “Physical sickness we usually defy. Soul sickness we often resign ourselves to.”
Wow. Those are strong and unmistakable words. According to God, we are here to love. Not much else really matters.
If I am meant to represent what love is, then I often fail to love people well.
If life is a river, then pursuing Christ requires swimming upstream. When we stop swimming, or actively following Him, we automatically begin to be swept downstream.
How many of us would really leave our families, our jobs, our education, our friends, our connections, our familiar surroundings, and our homes if Jesus asked us to? If He just showed up and said, “Follow Me”? No explanation. No directions.
Consider this carefully—have you ever done so? Or was your decision to follow Christ flippant, based solely on feelings and emotion, made without counting the cost?
Are you willing to say to God that He can have whatever He wants? Do you believe that wholehearted commitment to Him is more important than any other thing or person in your life? Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people He has made?
True faith means holding nothing back; it bets everything on the hope of eternity.
It’s so hard, in fact, that Jesus said the road is narrow and few will actually find it …
don’t assume you are the good soil; don’t assume you are one of the few on the narrow way.
If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?
God wants to change us; He died so that we could change. The answer lies in letting Him change you.
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. Something mysterious, even supernatural must happen in order for genuine love for God to grow in our hearts. The Holy Spirit has to move in our lives.
Life isn’t perfect when you follow Christ wholeheartedly; you will have trouble, Jesus says—it is pretty much guaranteed. But He has overcome the world. So take heart, keep on, fight the good fight, pray continuously, and do not grow weary.
When I look at my relationship with God as a chore, a sacrifice, then I am getting the glory—not God. I keep saying, “Look what I have sacrificed for God.…” or “Listen to what I do for God. It’s hard, exhausting really.…”
God is the only true Giver, and He needs nothing from us. But still He wants us. He gave us life so that we might seek and know Him.
Tell Him that He isn’t the most important thing in this life to you, and that you’re sorry for that. Tell Him that you’ve been lukewarm, that you’ve chosen ______________ over Him time and again. Tell Him that you want Him to change you, that you long to genuinely enjoy Him. Tell Him how you want to experience true satisfaction and pleasure and joy in your relationship with Him. Tell Him you want to love Him more than anything on this earth. Tell Him you want to treasure the kingdom of heaven so much that you’d willingly sell everything in order to get it. Tell Him what you like about Him,
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Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy. Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.
If we allow ourselves to live recklessly for Him, then we, too, will see His glory. We will see Him do the impossible.
God didn’t just give a little for us; He gave His best. He gave Himself.
Most of us are so busy that the thought of adding one more thing to our weekly schedule is stressful. Instead of adding in another thing to our lives, perhaps God wants us to give Him all of our time and let Him direct it as He sees fit. One of the most memorized verses in the whole Bible says, “For God so loved the world that he gave” (John 3:16). Right there we see the connection between loving and giving evidently established.
As we begin to practice regular giving, we see how ludicrous it is to hold on to the abundance God has given us and merely repeat the words thank you.
Dare to imagine what it would mean for you to take the words of Jesus seriously. Dare to think about your own children living in poverty, without enough to eat. Dare to believe that those really are your brothers and sisters in need.
Do you believe that? Do you live like you believe it?
We like finding refuge in what we already have rather than in what we hope God will provide.
“What are you doing right now that requires faith?” That question affected me deeply because at the time I could think of nothing in my life that required faith.
It is just this sort of love that is crazy to the world: true love, a kind found nowhere but through Christ.
People who are obsessed with Jesus give freely and openly, without censure. Obsessed people love those who hate them and who can never love them back.
People who are obsessed with Jesus aren’t consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else. Obsessed people care more about God’s kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress.
People who are obsessed with Jesus live lives that connect them with the poor in some way or another. Obsessed people believe that Jesus talked about money and the poor so often because it was really important to Him (1 John 2:4–6; Matt. 16:24–26).
When people gladly sacrifice their time or comfort or home, it is obvious that they trust in the promises of God.
Obsessed people are more concerned with obeying God than doing what is expected or fulfilling the status quo. A person who is obsessed with Jesus will do things that don’t always make sense in terms of success or wealth on this earth. As Martin Luther put it, “There are two days on my calendar: this day and that day”
A person who is obsessed with Jesus knows that the sin of pride is always a battle. Obsessed people know that you can never be “humble enough,” and so they seek to make themselves less known and Christ more known
People who are obsessed with Jesus do not consider service a burden. Obsessed people take joy in loving God by loving His people
People who are obsessed with God are known as givers, not takers. Obsessed people genuinely think that others matter as much as they do, and they are particularly aware of those who are poor around
A person who is obsessed thinks about heaven frequently. Obsessed people orient their lives around eternity; they are not fixed only on what is here in front of them.
A person who is obsessed is characterized by committed, settled, passionate love for God, above and before every other thing and every other being.
People who are obsessed are raw with God; they do not attempt to mask the ugliness of their sins or their failures. Obsessed people don’t put it on for God; He is their safe place, where they can be at peace.
The average Christian in the United States spends ten minutes per day with God; meanwhile, the average American spends over four hours a day watching television.
People who are obsessed with God have an intimate relationship with Him. They are nourished by God’s Word throughout the day because they know that forty minutes on Sunday is not enough to sustain them for a whole week, especially when they will encounter so many distractions and alternative messages.
A person who is obsessed with Jesus is more concerned with his or her character than comfort. Obsessed people know that true joy doesn’t depend on circumstances or environment; it is a gift that must be chosen and cultivated, a gift that ultimately comes from God
A person who is obsessed with Jesus knows that the best thing he can do is be faithful to his Savior in every aspect of his life, continually saying “Thank You!” to God. An obsessed person knows there can never be intimacy if he is always trying to pay God back or work hard enough to be worthy. He revels in his role as child and friend of God.
The first church responded with immediate action: repentance, baptism, selling possessions, sharing the gospel. We respond with words like Amen, Convicting sermon, Great book … and then are paralyzed as we try to decipher what God wants of our lives.
What I can say is that you must learn to listen to and obey God, especially in a society where it’s easy and expected to do what is most comfortable.
Most of us use “I’m waiting for God to reveal His calling on my life” as a means of avoiding action. Did you hear God calling you to sit in front of the television yesterday? Or to go on your last vacation? Or exercise this morning? Probably not, but you still did it. The point isn’t that vacations or exercise are wrong, but that we are quick to rationalize our entertainment and priorities yet are slow to commit to serving God.
