But Jesus warned against theological deformation with a penetrating question: “Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3). By habit, we hamstring holy writ-to our own shame and peril. Our worldly propensity is to dilute the demands of the Scripture to the level of self-help advice, to downgrade the Gospel from good news to one of many views, and to domesticate the deity himself, shrinking Him down to manageable, comfortable, and respectable proportions.
Too often and too easily, we read God’s fiery and blazing summons from heaven with a veil over our eyes and with layers of ice covering over our hearts-if we read it at all. This is not the theology of the Precious Moments greeting cards. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:24-26). For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. Or this: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Consider this blast from Jesus: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-yes, even his own life-he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). We often forget how radical, how disturbing, and how countercultural the Bible is. Douglas Groothuis' review of "Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God " by Francis Chan and Danae Yankoski.įrancis Chan with Danae Yankoski, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God 2008.
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