Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

• John 10:10

For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

• Romans 5:17

“I am going to ask some hard questions. They will resonate with what a lot of us feel but are generally afraid to articulate and explore. Don’t worry–this isn’t another book written to bash churches. I think it’s far too easy to blame the American church without acknowledging that we are each part of the church and therefore responsible. But I think we all feel deeply, even if we haven’t voiced it, that the church in many ways is not doing well.
“I get nervous when I think of how we’ve missed who we are supposed to be, and sad when I think about how we’re missing out on all that God wants for the people He loved enough to die for.
“I haven’t always felt this way. I grew up believing in God without having a clue what He is like. I called myself a Christian, was pretty involved in church, and tried to stay away from all of the things that ‘good Christians’ avoid-drinking, drugs, sex, swearing. Christianity was simple: fight your desires in order to please God. Whenever I failed (which was often), I’d walk around feeling guilty and distant from God.
“In hindsight, I don’t think my church’s teachings were incorrect, just incomplete. My view of God was narrow and small.”

• Francis Chan, crazy love

I picked up this book once before, thinking it a good book for a Sunday mini-series.  But I backed off.  It is a bit “crazy.”  As he says, he asks some hard questions, and he gives unconventional answers.  When his first two chapters are entitled “Stop praying” and “You might not finish this chapter,” you think, “What is wrong with this guy?”  But then again, he takes a fresh look at God that seems to have gotten lost in 2,000 years of theology.

I have written before about how we have a problem in comprehending infinity, how big God is, how awesome He is.  I have mentioned a few times that when we first see God, at least, I think I will get weak in the knees and crash to the floor, He will be that awesome.  An old professor, now passed on, said “You look awful!”  He was addressing the entire class.  Then he explained that the archaic meaning of awful was “full of awe,” or as Oxford Languages says “inspiring reverential wonder.”  We think of it as something unpleasant, but it is what we should be before God, so full of awe that we “fear” God.  Not from fright, but from the idea that God is that Great.  Have you ever looked at God, in your mind’s eye, since God is a spirit and not made of matter, and you felt inspiring reverential wonder?  I have at times when the Holy Spirit is pouring out His power into those in the room.  I heard a conversation among pastors recently – “and you literally get goosebumps.”

And before the “stop praying” turns you off, as it did me until I continued reading, Rev. Chan is speaking of stopping our talking about our supplications for ourselves and others and understand to whom we are talking. God is an awesome God in so many ways, and we seem to never take the time to think of God in such terms.

Now, let’s take that greatness, that majesty, that awesome wonder of His presence, and that God, not some senile grandfather, not some old man behind the curtain like in the Wizard of Oz, but this awesome, magnificent, immense God sent His Son to earth to die so that I could live in His presence forever.

Wow!  Is that not crazy?!

Then, again, what is our response to that crazy love that God showed us?

Should we not respond in kind?  I have been running a loose series, whenever I feel like it rather than programmed, on Old Songs.  My theory, that holds true quite often, is that secular love songs could be turned into worship songs with just a few words changed.  But I think a lot of people would cringe when they think of that intense of a love for God.  But why react that way?

Jesus said it Himself that there is no greater expression of love than to give one’s life for one’s friends.  And Jesus wants us to be His friend.

And Jesus already died, and He rose from the dead.

Now, that is some crazy love.

Lord, fill me with Your love.  Light the fire that burned so often in my younger days.  You love me that much.  I should love You that much.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.