The underlying question addressed in this book goes along this line: Why are we satisfied with giving less than all of ourselves to the One who loves us so much that He gave all of Himself for us?
This study leads us to examine how the Bible calls us to live our lives. It’s not enough that we compare ourselves to others and think that we’re pretty much on track spiritually. Our standard for living ought to be the truth of God’s Word, and nothing less. As the author states in the preface, Jesus “never begs us to give Him some small part of ourselves. He commands everything from His followers.”
The first chapter describes the glory of an Almighty, all-knowing, holy, just and eternal Creator God. He alone is worthy of our worship. When we think about the majesty and splendor of God, it ought to bring us to our knees in reverence and awestruck wonder.
Chapter 2 turns the focus toward the reality of our weakness and frailty as human beings whose lives are but vapors and will soon be gone. How we need a Savior!
In the third chapter Chan shows us that even as much as we as parents dearly and immensely love our own children, our love for them is only a faint echo of God’s great love for each and every person He has made. God really cherishes and treasures us more than we’ll ever know. And it’s not because we’re all loveable and cuddly and somehow deserve it, but it’s because God is love, and His love is magnified in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Then we got to chapter 4. Chapter 4 hits like an uppercut to the gut. If this is the God of the Bible, the Creator of heaven and earth, the holy, eternal, all-knowing and all-powerful One who loves us so much that He gave up His Son on the cross so that we could be saved from death and hell and given abundant and everlasting life, and if we’re so fragile and fast-fading, how in the world can we not respond to Him with absolute joy and gratitude and loving devotion to Him?
Yet isn’t this a more typical “Christian” response – something like, “Yeah, OK, I’ll try to cuss less, not drink as much, maybe go to church more often, and if I have a little money left over I might put a $20 in the offering.” Is that really what God wants from us? To give Him a little bit of our leftovers? To try to appease Him by doing something good? To try to not make Him mad?
Chapter 4 is entitled, “Profile of the Lukewarm.” Many (most?) American church-goers today are not living in wholehearted obedience, wholehearted devotion or wholehearted delight in the Lord that ought to typify the lives of those who have been saved by His mercy and grace. And I count myself among those for whom this chapter challenged to the core.
Here are just a few of the profiles of the lukewarm:
“Lukewarm people give money to charity and to the church…as long as it doesn’t impinge on their standard of living.”
“Lukewarm people tend to choose what is popular over what is right…they care more about what people think of their actions than what God thinks of their hearts and lives.”
“Lukewarm people don’t really want to be saved from their sin; they want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin.”
“Lukewarm people call ‘radical’ what Jesus expected of all His followers.”
“Lukewarm people gauge their morality or ‘goodness’ by comparing themselves to the secular world.”
“Lukewarm people say they love Jesus, and He is, indeed, a part of their lives. But only a part. They give Him a section of their time, their money, and their thoughts, but He isn’t allowed to control their lives.”
And by the way, here’s what the Lord says to the lukewarm church in Revelation 3:16: “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” What about you, friend? Will you continue to be satisfied with something far less than what God wants of you, or will you give yourself wholly to Christ today?
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