Makeover Monday: Makeover My Heart
I’ve been reading a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Re-reading, actually. It’s a great book.
See that? There in the bottom right? If you ask me, it’s the most important, most revealing part of the title.
Overwhelmed by a Relentless God.
Heavy stuff. Intimidating.
Overwhelming.
Relentless.
And as uncomfortable as that might make you – and it should make you squirm a little – it’s also comforting, isn’t it? The idea of God loving you relentlessly, never giving up, never leaving. Loving you so wholly that it’s overwhelming.
It is a great book. But it’s not an easy read. It’s very challenging. Not because it’s theological and you need to be a biblical scholar to understand it – not at all. It’s easy to read. It’s just painful. If you can read it and not feel uncomfortable, then I daresay you’re missing the point. Chan writes, “God doesn’t call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn’t come through.”
And yet, it’s easy to read a book like this, agree with it, feel inspired by it, vow to live your life in a better way, and then…not. We let the fire fade. We grow comfortable again. I did it myself, after reading Same Kind of Different As Me. [Another great read, BTW]
Annie Dillard once wrote that “How we live our days is how we live our lives.” Chan takes that one step farther, writing “We each need to discover for ourselves how to live this day in faithful surrender to God as we ‘continue to work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling’” (Phil. 2:12). [This also happens to be my favorite scripture] Chan says we have to learn to listen to and obey God day to day “…in a society where it’s easy and expected to do what is most comfortable.”
I’ve been comfortable.
And I want to change that.
Coincidentally, we got a new issue of Thriving Family magazine last week, and the Chan family is profiled. Specifically, the article is about their decision to sell their comfortable home and downsize, moving into a small home and even inviting the needy to live with them. They are practicing what he calls ‘radical obedience’. Giving up what would make them comfortable by worldly standards, and giving to the world until it hurts.
I want to practice radical obedience.
I want to be radical.
I want to have a heart that is so filled with passion, so consumed by love, so overwhelmed by a relentless God, that there is no shadow of my former selfish, comfortable self.
I want to love my neighbor so fully that there is no room left for me.
Erma Bombeck once said that “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me’.”
Me too, Erma. Me too.
I have a long way to go here. My daughter is better at this than I am. But today, I am [re]committing myself to trying.
One day at a time.
How we live our days is how we live our lives.
Indeed.
Tags: Annie Dillard, crazy love, Erma Bombeck, francis chan, Heart Makeover, Makeover Monday, overwhelmed by a relentless God, Same Kind of Different As Me
Faith & Spirituality, Makeover Monday | Heather July 19, 2010
Facebook comments:
By Heather, July 19, 2010 @ 6:48 pm
So glad that you are enjoying the book! I have it too, haven’t read it yet. Looking forward to it. =)
Heather´s last [type] ..Bringing home Bethany and Hannah
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