I revisited the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan today. Here is one book that cuts at your heart and makes you think, think, think. In chapter five, Francis Chan talks about The Lukewarm and the Leftovers. Hesays those who are lukewarm will only give God their leftovers. Below is a summary of lukewarm people as dcescribed in the book.
According to Scripture, lukewarm people:
▼ Attend church, sometimes frequently or even every week (Isaiah
29:13).
▼ Give tithe to the church and to worthy causes, but only if it doesn’t
hinder what they consider a comfortable lifestyle (1 Chronicles 21:24,
Luke 21:1-4).
▼ Desire to fit in, both inside and outside the church, more than they
care to hold up what is right~popularity wins over morality (Luke
6:26, Revelation 3:1).
▼ “Lukewarm people don’t really want to be saved from their sin; they
want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin. They don’t genuinely
hate sin and aren’t truly sorry for it” (John 10:10, Romans
6:1-2).
▼ Feel moved to hear about radical followers of Christ and their radical
stories, but they don’t think the “extreme” Christian life is for them
(James 1:22, 4:17; Matthew 21:28-31).
▼ Seldom share their faith with those in their sphere of influence because
their fear of man trumps their fear of God (Matthew 10:32-33).
▼ Measure how moral they are by weighing their own sins against those
of the secular world (Luke 18:11-12).
▼ Say that complete surrender and dependence on God is only for the
ultraspiritual like those whose paid vocation is ministry (Matthew
22:37-38).
▼ Love themselves more than they love others (Matthew 5:43-47, Luke
14:12-14).
▼ Serve God and people, but only to the extent they feel comfortable
with (Luke 18:21-25).
▼ Think much more about the here and now, the temporal realm,
than they do about the eternal realm (Philippians 3:18-20, Colossians
3:2).
▼ Often don’t consider the possibility of giving as much as they can to
the poor (Matthew 25:34, 40; Isaiah 58:6-7).
▼ Do whatever they need to do “to be ‘good enough’ ” to keep them
from feeling plagued by guilt (1 Chronicles 29:14, Matthew 13:44-
46).
▼ “Are slaves to the god of control,” would rather steer their own life,
and don’t believe in risk taking for God (1 Timothy 6:17-18, Matthew
10:28).
▼ Feel a false security because they are known and labeled as Christians
and do “Christian” activities~like attending church, getting baptized
(Matthew 7:21, Amos 6:1).
▼ Live lives so structured that living by faith is out of the question (Luke
12:16-21, Hebrews 11).
How does your life compare to the above list?
You can check out more about Crazy Love from this website here.
Especially watch the chapter videos.
