Loving God

Summary of Loving God

1. 1

   When Power Meets Prison Bars

   

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   What happens when a man who once walked the halls of the White House finds himself behind prison bars? Charles Colson's journey from political powerbroker to convicted felon became the crucible that forged one of Christianity's most challenging questions: What does it really mean to love God? Not the comfortable, Sunday-morning version of faith, but the kind that costs you everything. His answer didn't come from theological libraries or seminary lectures-it emerged from the raw reality of a prison cell, where pretense dies and truth survives. This isn't a book about adding religious activities to an already busy life. It's about discovering that loving God might mean losing everything you thought mattered, only to find what actually does. We've turned life into a shopping mall of self-improvement. Everywhere you look, someone's selling the secret to finding yourself-through meditation apps, productivity hacks, or the latest bestseller promising to unlock your potential. The church hasn't escaped this consumer mentality. We approach faith like a transaction: What's in it for me? How will God improve my life? This what's-in-it-for-me gospel has transformed Christianity into another self-help program, complete with prosperity promises and personal fulfillment guarantees.

2. 2

   The Paradox of Victory Through Defeat

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   God's kingdom operates on a paradox: you find yourself by losing yourself. Boris Kornfeld, a Jewish physician in a Soviet gulag, converted to Christianity and enjoyed privileges others couldn't - better food, warmer quarters, relative safety. Then his faith demanded something costly: reporting an orderly who stole food from dying patients. Kornfeld knew this would likely cost his life, yet he obeyed. That night, before his murder, he shared his spiritual journey with a young cancer patient - Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who survived to become one of the world's most influential writers. Through one man's obedient sacrifice, millions encountered truth. Mickey Cohen, a notorious gangster, seemed to find faith through Christian businessman Bill Jones. But when urged to separate from his criminal associates, Cohen replied indignantly: "You never told me I had to give up my career. What's the matter with being a Christian gangster?" His question reveals what millions secretly believe - that Christianity should improve us, not fundamentally transform us.

3. 3

   The Book That Reads You

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   Augustine sat beneath a fig tree in spiritual crisis when a child's voice chanted "Take up and read." He grabbed Paul's letters and found Romans 13: "Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." Those words transformed him. For forty-four years afterward, Scripture became not a text he analyzed but the voice of God that analyzed him. The Bible's journey is extraordinary: banned, burned, smuggled, yet it remains the world's bestseller with 500 million copies published annually. Dictators have tried to destroy it, intellectuals to discredit it, yet it endures with civilization-shaping power. Why? Because it claims to be God's infallible Word-a claim demanding investigation, not blind acceptance. Colson's legal training made him skeptical, yet examining Jesus' view of Scripture proved compelling. Jesus consistently treated it as authoritative, using it to announce His ministry, defend against temptation, and verify His identity. Watergate provided unexpected insight. Despite everything at stake, their conspiracy collapsed within two weeks when no one's life was threatened. Yet the disciples maintained their resurrection testimony through torture and death-not one recanted. As Pascal observed, "The human heart is singularly susceptible to fickleness, to change, to promises, to bribery." Evidence even a skeptical lawyer must consider.

4. Chapter 4

   The Uncomfortable Truth About Ourselves

   True repentance-metanoia in Greek-means "a change of mind" so radical it transforms our entire value system. Yet modern evangelism offers what Bonhoeffer called "cheap grace" without cost, blaming society instead of individuals. Colson's awakening came reading Augustine's Confessions in prison. He remembered ordering his sergeant to arrest an elderly Vietnamese man for selling cold drinks to soldiers, never considering those satchels might represent the man's life savings or that his family could go hungry. Augustine saw in his seemingly minor theft of pears his true nature: in each of us there is sin itself, not just susceptibility to sin. As Solzhenitsyn discovered in the gulag, "the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between parties either-but right through every human heart." When we truly comprehend this, repentance becomes liberation-the only real freedom we can ever know.

   Chapter 5

   Holiness Beyond the Stained Glass

   Mother Teresa arrived in Washington D.C.'s Anacostia ghetto, declaring her mission was about "the joy of loving and being loved"-requiring sacrifice, not money. When a brother complained that rules interfered with his leper ministry, she gently corrected: "Your vocation is not to work for lepers, your vocation is to belong to Jesus." This is holiness-not rule-keeping but conformity to God's character in moment-by-moment decisions. Businessmen Kenneth Hooker and Donald Adcox demonstrated this in Haiti, establishing a rug factory and training church leaders to create opportunity rather than dependency. William Wilberforce understood that personal holiness and social righteousness are inseparable, pursuing both "the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners." His fifty-year campaign succeeded because holy living fosters societal righteousness. Today's church often seems schizophrenic-pious in prayer groups but indifferent to the world outside. Yet God demands His people uphold justice in society, not just personal piety. He holds us accountable for corporate sins like injustice, racism, and economic oppression. Holiness that doesn't extend beyond church walls isn't biblical holiness at all.

   Chapter 6

   The Cost of Conviction and the Church Beyond Sunday

   Judge Bill Bontrager faced an impossible choice. He had sentenced Fred Palmer, a Vietnam veteran with PTSD, to prison for burglary. Learning Palmer's wife was suicidal and his children headed to foster care, Bontrager temporarily released him to arrange family care. The Indiana Supreme Court charged him with criminal contempt for releasing a convicted felon without authority. Political associates called him "radical." The term perfectly describes his stance - its Latin root *radix* means "the root" or "the fundamental." Christianity has always had its radicals: John Wesley argued there could be "no holiness but social holiness." William Wilberforce stood alone against the slave trade for twenty years. Dietrich Bonhoeffer opposed Hitler at the cost of his life. These weren't extremists - they were people who took God's Word seriously enough to let it cost them something. Bontrager eventually resigned, choosing to protect the court's reputation. Though he now operates a struggling law practice, he remains at peace: "I count as gain all that the world might count as loss." In Seoul, Pastor Cho's Full Gospel Church grew from a tiny mission to over 150,000 members in twenty years through weakness, not strength. Plagued by illness, Cho developed a cell concept out of necessity, commissioning elders to lead 10,000 neighborhood groups. "The church is in the home."

   Chapter 7

   What Will You Do?

   The church isn't a building-it's an organism sent to unsettle society like yeast in dough. In Jefferson City, Missouri, families visiting imprisoned loved ones couldn't afford lodging. One woman arrived at 2 a.m. by Greyhound and hid with her infant in a hotel bathroom until the prison opened. Janice Webb and Sister Ruth Heaney united Catholics, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, and Baptists to transform an old rooming house into Agape House, charging three dollars or nothing. Dave Chapman worked late to avoid his wife's Christian gatherings. When theologian Dr. Jack Newman confronted him, their conversation revealed Dave's spiritual struggles. Newman suggested loving God works like marriage-requiring commitment even when feelings fluctuate. Studying Psalms, Dave discovered commands to defend "the cause of the weak and fatherless." He began offering rehabilitation instead of firing troubled employees and made restitution for stolen money. Newman later took Dave to a prison where fresh blood stained the concrete, challenging him to use his influence with the governor's campaign. Dave deflected, citing promises of a post-election committee. Newman then shared the story of Telemachus, a fourth-century monk who leapt into the gladiatorial arena crying "In the name of Christ, forbear!" Though struck down, his sacrifice ended the brutal spectacle forever. Standing by that bloodstained concrete, Dave finally acknowledged he couldn't ignore the suffering around him. As Newman walked away, Dave faced the agonizing question: "What am I going to do?" That question isn't just Dave's-it's yours and mine. The world doesn't need more Christians who've added Jesus to their busy lives. It needs radicals who've let Jesus interrupt everything-people willing to leap into the arena, knowing it might cost them everything. So what will you do?

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