Crazy Love

Love…it is one of those words in our culture that we have devalued. In our world today, we toss that word around far too easily and carelessly. In our own selfishness and sinfulness, we have weakened the impact of love. I get confused today when I hear parents tell their children, “You don’t even know what love is.” Even though that may be true, I struggle with this because I believe there are many adults in our world today who do not even know what real love is. For many in our world today, love is such a relative term. We say “I love you,” so easily, but what we really mean is, “I love you as long as it is convenient for me.” When pain surfaces, when restlessness sets in, or when it just no longer feels right, then we believe we have the right to quit. We convince ourselves that we have the right to choose to love someone else.

That is not the way love was meant to work. Over 2000 years ago, love made is greatest move; love gave its greatest demonstration. Love as it was intended was defined by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” That is love, “crazy love.” It is so simple and has become so common that I am afraid we are missing the total and awesome impact of what this verse it actually saying. The only reason we know what love is, the only reason we have a clue, is because we have seen it in Jesus Christ. This love is insane, foolish, and it turns our world upside down. This love is so crazy that the world cannot grasp it, does not understand it, and does not promote it. Unfortunately, I am afraid that even Christians are beginning to lose their grip on the impact of God’s crazy love. My prayer is that all followers of Christ, all over the world, will be re-enlightened to the crazy love of God. For us to once again appreciate the awesomeness that is God’s love, we must understand a few things.

First, may our hearts be enlightened to the crazy love of God. Check out these passages of Scripture (Romans 5:5-10; 8:35-39; Ephesians 3:17-19 look this one up in the New Living Translation if you have one available). At just the right time, while we were still sinners, enemies of God, Jesus Christ gave his life for us on the cross. That act was God’s greatest demonstration of his love. In Jesus’ death, God poured out his love into our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit. That is “crazy” love. Paul explains that very rarely would anyone die for a righteous man. Some might even consider dying for a good man, someone they believe is worth their time. Who, though, in their right mind would die for a selfish, inconsiderate, and sinful, enemy? Jesus did! Paul also explains that if Jesus has gone through all of that for us, then we can be sure that there is nothing in this world, or even beyond this world, that can separate us from the love of God. In Ephesians, Paul prays that our roots would go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous, God’s crazy love. He prays that we might experience the love of God, even though it is so crazy that we will never fully understand it. As we begin to understand the crazy love of God, it will change the way we love God in return.

We should have a crazy love for God. As we come to understand that God’s love is undeniable, unconditional, and unchanging, how can we not love God back? Jesus said in Matthew 22:36, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind.” It is so simple that I cannot for the life of me figure out why we try to make it so complicated. Jesus didn’t ask for our time, money, possessions, or our position. He didn’t ask for those things because he knew that if he could get our hearts, our crazy love in return, he would get all of those other things as a by-product of our love. For God so loved the world…and all he wants is for the world to love him back. Here are a few simple questions to answer that will help determine if you have a crazy love for God. Who dictates your schedule? If you have a crazy love for God, you will use Sunday and Wednesday to schedule your other appointments instead of allowing your other appointments to dictate whether or not you are able to attend church. Who dictates the prioritizing of your time? If you have a crazy love for God, you will be early for worship rather than late; and it will not bother you if worship takes one hour or even two. With a crazy love for God, you will want to soak up every single minute worshipping the Lord and fellowshipping with his church. Who dictates your finances? If you have a crazy love for God, you will make absolutely sure that God gets the first fruits of your labor rather than the leftovers. As we receive God’s love and practice giving that love back, it will change the way that we love others.

We should have a crazy love like God’s. This is by far that most difficult for us to practice. It is much easier to love God sitting in the building and singing praises to him than it is to have God-like love in the world for every single human being. This is not a new problem. Take a look at these New Testament passages where even some of the first disciples of Christ were struggling with this same issue (Galatians 5:6; Ephesians 5:1-2; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; John 13:34-35). Jesus knew how difficult it was going to be for us to move ourselves aside and love others with the love of God. He indicated that in the second greatest commandment, “Love our neighbors as ourselves.” Ahhhh! That is a problem for us, though, isn’t it.

We all have those lines in the sand when it comes to loving others. Because we are human, we judge others based on our own style, our own tastes, and our own standards. We are willing to love others up to a certain point, but then we make rationalizations for not going any further. We shy away from them because they don’t match up with our standards. For some it is tattoos…for some it is body piercings…for some it is drinking and/or smoking…for some it is dirty, ratty, or tattered clothing…for some it is what side of the town you live on…for others it is race (yes, unfortunately many are still there)…and for some it is what church they attend (have you ever wondered what Jesus really thinks when he looks at this world and notices how many different denominations we have divided “his” church into).

Praise be to God that Jesus doesn’t love us this way! Aren’t you glad he doesn’t love you based on conditions or standards. Jesus is perfect, holy, righteous, blameless, and sinless. If Jesus loved us on those conditions and standards there is not one of us that stand a chance of ever seeing eternity. With God’s crazy love there are no limitations. God’s crazy love is unconditional. It is refreshing and calming to know that no matter how imperfect I may seem in the eyes of the world, I am always perfectly lovable in the eyes of God. We will have a crazy love like God’s as soon as we admit and accept the fact that we are just a bunch of imperfect sinners just like the rest of the world. The only difference between us and them is that someone took the time to tell us about the crazy love of God. Doesn’t the rest of the world deserve the same chance?

Live with Crazy Faith. Hold on to your Crazy Hope. And love with world with a Crazy Love.