While in Africa I finished my book for May. I kept hearing about this book from several people and I had heart so many great things. I am so glad I read it. Francis Chan is one of the most straightforward and honest authors I have ever read. There is even a hint of sarcasm in his writing. Overall, he just spits it straight which I loved. I will give you a few quotes that I really liked but I pretty much underlined the whole book so I would highly recommend reading it.
"To say that God is holy is to say that He is set apart, distinct from us. And because of His set apart-ness, there is no way we can never fathom all of who He is."
"His perfect holiness, by definition, assures us that our words can't contain Him."
"He knows each of us deeply and specifically. He knows our thoughts before we think them, our actions before we commit them, whether we are lying down or sitting or walking around. He knows who we are and what we are about. We cannot escape Him, not even if we want to."
A scary, yet comforting truth.
"God never excuses sin. And He is always consistent with that ethic. Whenever we start to question whether God really hates sin, we have only to think of the cross, where His Son was tortured, mocked, and beaten because of sin. Our sin."
"The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you are doing, God wants to be glorified, because this whole thing is His. It is His movie, His world, His gift."
"....when we love God, we naturally run to Him--frequently and zealously.........Our motivation changes from guilt to love."
"The very fact that a holy, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, merciful, fair, and just God loves you and me is nothing short of astonishing........The greatest knowledge we can ever have is knowing God treasures us."
So true. We are so undeserving of this.
"God wants our best, deserves our best, and demands our best. From the beginning of time, He has been clear that some offerings are acceptable to Him and others are not."
"Following Christ isn't something that can be done halfheartedly or on the side. It is not a label we can display when it is useful. It must be central to everything we do and are."
"In the same way, you have to stop loving and pursuing Christ in order to sin. When you are pursuing love, running toward Christ, you do not have opportunity to wonder, 'Am I doing this right?' or 'Did I serve enough this week?' When you are running toward Christ, you are freed up to serve, love, and give thanks without guilt, worry, or fear. As long as you are running, you are safe."
As believers, we know we should run and run hard for towards Christ and yet I know I fail so often. We know what to do and we know what will satisfy...but still we choose other things.
"If we allow ourselves to live recklessly for Him, then we, too, will see His glory. We will see Him do the impossible."
I like the idea of living recklessly for Christ.
Anyways, like I said, you should probably just read this book! It is so good! Hope you all are having a happy weekend!