Crazy Love

Paradigm shifts=disequillibrium=times of growth

In the last 15 years, I think the biggest shift in my views on God has come in terms of grace and sin.  Blame my parents, blame my church, blame my rules centered personality, but for me it has always been very easy to equate goodness and worthiness with one's ability to control their own behavior.  Oh how God has worked on my heart to redefine how His grace really works in the lives of people every day.

My latest conversation with Him is no different.  Getting caught up in what I'm supposed to be doing.  Believing that God is loves me best when I choose to follow the rules rather than when I simply love Him and fail.  I've just started Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan.  It's been on my list for awhile.  As I read the introductory pages today, I could help but take note of how what he writes describes my fascination with rules and the supposed tos and have tos of life.


Chan explains how God worked in his life to orchestrate a paradigm shift in this area as well.  He explains how he spent many years following a spiritual growth model that was essentially "Fight your desires in order to please God."  How I know that place.  Chan then goes on to write that his purpose in writing Crazy Love was to move people out of that viewpoint and into one that embraces the belief that "by surrending yourself totally to God's purposes , He will bring you the most pleasure in this life and the next."  In other words, obey God not because you love rules.  Obey God because you believe God's purposes are higher than yours and reflect a genuine concern for what is best for your life.

Smiling because I do believe God knows what's best for me.  Smiling because my teacher heart knows how much fun it is to watch a 'light bulb' moment as someone learns something new.  Smiling because God delights in those moments in our lives.