I recently read Crave: Wanting So Much More of God by brand new author Chris Tomlinson courtesy of Harvest House Publishers.
Chris is not a Pastor or even a major church leader, but he is a Christian just like you and me who deals with the same struggles you deal with regarding your walk of faith. Have you ever wondered why you find it so hard to pray? Or keep a constant habit of reading your bible? Have you ever been unsatisfied with the current condition of your God relationship yet every endeavor to better it falls flat on its face? Well, if you can answer yes to any of these questions (if you’ll be honest with yourself, you will answer yes) then you need to read this book.
Crave: Wanting So Much More of God is almost an autobiography of a man who takes a chance that most Christians would not even dare to be totally transparent about his life, his faith, his relationships and his personal habits. This book is so refreshing in that it is encouraging to know that I am not the only one who deals with the same struggles and inconsistencies concerning my faith. This isn’t the type of book that will encourage you with great stories of faith where thousands of lives are changed, but encouraging in the sense that Chris puts into words and tries to process those same questions I know you are struggling with today and will struggle with tomorrow.
If you crave more of God but have discovered that you just can’t live up to being a good old Christian I strongly recommend you get a hold of this book. Tomlinson shares the process he went through in discovering he couldn’t get close to God by trying to pray for hours each day, or by making sure he reads through the bible in three weeks, or by trying to follow all the rules, or by helping others in need. Chris discovers developing a deeper walk with God is all about relationship, to find out what this means you’ll have to read the book.
One of my favorite chapters was one called pager. Chris writes about an internal pager that goes off when he feels the impulse to talk to someone about his faith and the gospel of Jesus Christ; yet Chris constantly tries to ignore the pager and hopes it goes away. As I read this I was thinking, ‘been there and I still do that!’.
There were some great quotes in this book and here are a few that stood out to me:
- I have developed inch deep beliefs about a mile-high God (p110)
- Perhaps rules don’t create intimacy by themselves.Maybe they create space for intimacy (p125)
- This is why I want to be 12 years old again -because to a child everything is big (p158)
- The security of bondage can often seem easier than the anxiety of freedom (p169)
- We must seek to satisfy our longings, the deepest cravings of the soul, by seeking the One who made us with a desire for him (p199)
If you crave God but realize your just not up to the standard, then get this book, be encouraged and join the ongoing conversation.
To get in on the conversation you can visit Chris’s blog at www.cravesomethingmore.org or follow him on twitter here or facebook here.
If you would like to read the first three chapters of his book click below.
