"Crazy Love" Chapter Three

Chapter Three: Crazy Love

In chapter three, Francis compares God's love to the love of an earthly father. For many, including Francis, this Fatherly love is foreign because of the lack of example from their earthly fathers. My family was so blessed because our daddy's love for us made it easier for us to identify with our Heavenly Daddy's love for us. About six months after our dad died, one of our cousins told me he had never known another man who loved his children as deeply as our daddy loved us. (So others saw it too.) Even so, recognizing God's great love for us is not always easily done: we know that we are so unworthy. But His love for us is not based on us and our worth, but rather on Him and His character.

Francis says, "For years I 'got' God's love in my head, checked the right answer on the 'what God is like' test, but didn't fully understand it with my heart. ... Most of us, to some degree, have a difficult time understanding, believing or accepting God's absolute love for us." He goes on to say that a major turning point for him came from being a father himself. "Nothing compares to being truly, exuberantly wanted by your children."

John Eldredge says in the book Wild at Heart, "I am convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt of this: God wants to be loved. He wants to be a priority to someone. ... As Tozer says, 'God waits to be wanted.' " Francis adds, "His being is utterly complete and perfect, apart from humanity. He doesn't need me or you. Yet He wants us, chooses us, even considers us His inheritance (Eph. 1:18). The greatest knowledge we can ever have is knowing God treasures us. ... 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."

Discussion Questions:

Question 1. Share the moment you felt like you "got" it; that "aha!" moment when you realized "I am in love with God!"

Question 2. The Bible tells us in Matt. 22:37 - 38 to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Francis says, "this is how God longs for us to respond to His extravagant, unending love: with true love expressed through out lives." How can you make the cross central in your life?

I hope some of you will take the time to post comments this week. During this next week, let's remind each other and others to "remember the cross."

Anita