The Immeasurable Love of God | Francis Chan - Crazy Love Podcast

Summary

Crazy Love Podcast: “The Immeasurable Love of God” with Francis Chan (October 6, 2025)

Episode Overview

This episode centers on Francis Chan’s reflections about the transformative power of truly knowing and experiencing the love of God—not just understanding it intellectually, but living in a way that is rooted in God’s unconditional, immeasurable love. Drawing on themes from his new book Beloved, Francis explores how easy it is for believers to slip into striving for God’s affection or to unconsciously believe that His love fluctuates based on their performance. Instead, he urges listeners to rest in the reality of God’s unchanging love, and to allow that truth to shape every aspect of life.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Resting in God’s Presence and Love

Francis opens with a prayerful reflection on not striving or trying to conjure up God’s presence, emphasizing a posture of resting and confidence in His desire to be with us.
- Quote: “If Jesus walked in the room, why would we feel any need to conjure something up by our own power? We just rest in his presence with us.” [00:52]
He recalls the central message of the cross:
- Quote: “That's what the cross was all about. We weren't pursuing him… He looked at us and says, ‘I want to bring them to me.’” [01:23]

2. The Gap Between Knowing and Experiencing God’s Love

Francis confesses the disconnect between believing in God's love intellectually and truly knowing it at his core:
- Quote: “Most of you would say, you know, that God so loved the world. But do you mean that, like, from the core of your being?” [03:46]
He admits, “It's easier for me to say I love you than it is to say, I believe you love me.” [04:17]
He urges listeners to pray, “God, show me where I've been deceived,” acknowledging the subtle ways the enemy twists our understanding of God’s love. [05:31]

3. The Trap of Performance-Based Acceptance

Chan discusses Romans 5:10, sharing how he often intellectually understands salvation is by grace, but emotionally slips into thinking God's affection is conditional day-to-day:
- Quote: “Somehow I get this sense, like, he loves me more when I've been obeying him through the week. Or this week he loves me less.” [07:52]
- He relates this to Paul’s warning to the Galatians—starting with grace but falling into works-based mentality.

4. God’s Steadfast Love: Before and After Salvation

Francis points out the faulty thinking that God’s love somehow diminishes after we become His children:
- Quote: “He loved you back then when you were rebellious and an enemy of God—now that you’re a son of God, how much more...?” [10:07]

5. The Infinite Nature of God's Love

Francis uses analogies of strength and intelligence to highlight how God’s love, like His power and wisdom, is truly infinite:
- “Compare [the strongest or smartest person you know] to God. It’s comical, right?... Why do I have this gap where, when it comes to the love of God, I treat it different from his knowledge, his strength?” [13:46]
He challenges listeners to grasp that God’s love is as boundless as His other attributes, never to be reduced to human terms.

6. The Importance of “Tasting” God’s Love—Not Just Knowing It

Francis references church history, noting early leaders were more concerned that people knew the love of Christ experientially, not just mentally:
- “You can tell me all the ingredients in a recipe… but if you've never tasted it… Is that the love of God in your life, where you just go, I am so loved by him?” [15:52]

7. The Enemy’s Lie: Mistaking Humility for Doubt in God’s Love

He identifies a twisted tendency to downplay God’s intense, personal love out of false humility:
- Quote: “There’s some twisted side in me that thinks, ‘Oh, I should be humble and kind of go, well… he loves me because he loves the world’ rather than tasting it and looking you in the eyes and going, I promise you this: God loves me so much.” [17:06]

8. Living From, Not For, God’s Love

Francis explains the vital difference between serving Christ from His love, rather than striving for it:
- “If not, you’ll end up doing things for Christ’s love rather than from his love. And it’s so easy to fall into that.” [18:02]
Illustration: He compares this to a child needing to perform for parental love, pointing out how this would offend even a human parent—and how much more it grieves God.

9. The Kindness of God Leads to Repentance

Citing Ephesians 2:4, Francis emphasizes that it’s God’s astonishing kindness—not just His holiness or fear—that draws us to repentance:
- “But he says in scripture, no, it's my kindness because I'm patient with you. I'm so kind. Do you think of him as just kind, this holy, all powerful God?” [20:40]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“I want to know your love. I want to know it… not just in my head.” [02:54]
“It’s easier for me to say I love you than it is to say, I believe you love me.” [04:17]
“If while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now… shall we be saved by his life.” [09:22] — Romans 5:10 paraphrased
“God loves because he is love. It's out of who he is.” [11:45]
“Do I believe that God is love and his love is infinitely beyond any of ours and that he feels that way about me today, this week?” [15:22]
“If not, you’ll end up doing things for Christ’s love rather than from his love.” [18:02]
“It's your kindness that makes me want to repent. It's the kindness of the Lord that leads us to repentance.” [20:40]

Important Timestamps

00:50 – Resting in God’s presence; God’s longing for relationship.
03:46 – The challenge of knowing God’s love at the core.
07:52 – Subtle performance-based thinking in daily life.
10:07 – God’s love does not diminish after salvation.
13:46 – Comparing human love, power, knowledge to God’s infinite attributes.
15:22 – Experiencing (not just knowing) the love of Christ.
17:06 – Pushback against the false humility of doubting God’s personal love.
18:02 – Living from, not for, God’s love; illustration with his son.
20:40 – God’s kindness as the motive for repentance.

Final Thoughts

Francis Chan vulnerably shares his own struggles and “twisted thinking” about God’s love, inviting listeners to honestly pray for God to reveal deceptions and distortions in their own hearts. His hope is for each person to not only know, but be changed by, the immeasurable love of Christ—a love that isn’t earned, doesn’t diminish with failure, and is infinitely greater than any human love we could ever imagine.

For further reflection, Francis’ new book Beloved (releasing October 7, 2025) delves deeper into these transformative truths about God’s relentless, unfailing love.

Transcript

A (0:05)

Welcome to the Crazy Love Podcast. Francis Chan's newest book, Beloved, releases tomorrow, and today's episode gives you a glimpse into the message behind it. At its core is a question we don't often slow down to do. I truly believe God loves me right now, not because of what I've done, but. But simply because of who he is. Francis reflects on how easily we slip into striving, living as if God's affection changes with our performance. This message is about more than knowing the truth of God's love in our heads. It's about experiencing it and learning to rest in it every single day.

B (0:50)

Jesus, we want you to stay with us. I don't want to take over in any way. Church, think about it. If Jesus walked in the room, Why would we feel any need to conjure something up by our own power? We just rest in his presence with us. I've been praying that you would know that Jesus loves you and wants to be with you. We don't have to beg him to come into a room with us. He's waiting. He's desiring. He's longing to be with us. That's what the cross was all about. We weren't pursuing him. We were his enemies. We were just doing whatever felt good. And he looked upon his creation. He looked at us and says, I want to bring them to me. I want to go down there and be with them. Then when he left the earth, he's telling them, father, I want to take them all with me so they can be with me in heaven and see me in my glory, because I don't want to live without them. And I confess, for too long, I've just been focusing on, like, working and, like, begging him, and I've been praying for myself, God, help me know your love. Like, know your love. Just like a couple weeks ago when we talked about the throne of grace, and it was like, oh, I never saw your holy throne as a throne of grace, but now that I see it and I know it in my head, but I want to know it. Like, most of you would say, you know, that God so loved the world. But do you mean that, like, from the core of your being? Do you just know at the core of you who you are, that God loves you? I was noticing as we were worshiping, I was going, God, I love you. And it's easier for me to say I love you than it is to say, I believe you love me. And that's probably true for a lot of us in this room. It's easier for us to Say, I love you. Than it is to go, God, I know you love me. I am so sure you love me. Why is that? God's been. You remember how I said, let's pray? Let's pray that God would show us where we're deceived. And God just keeps answering that prayer and showing me, no, you have this wrong about me. You don't see this side of me clearly. Please keep praying that prayer, God, show me where I've been deceived, because we're all deceived in some way. And so humble yourself and say, God, you've got to open my eyes. I've just seen some things that have been twisted in my mind that the enemy has just twisted in my mind about the love of God. In Romans, chapter 5, verse 10. Many of you know this verse. It says, for if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. God was showing me things about this verse this week. This is where he was showing me how my mind is twisted in some way. He says, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God. So here's. Here's what I noticed about myself. And this may be true of some of you. So I feel like I'm supposed to bring it up tonight. Like, I know that I am saved by grace. I don't deserve any of it. It's because God so loved me and because He's a God of mercy, he saw me like that first part of the verse, like, I know I did nothing to earn his love. I was an enemy of God. I. I was dead in my trespasses and sins. I had nothing to offer Him. He didn't look down and say, wow, now there's a good kid. No, he saw me in my rebellion, my sin, my selfishness, and he came after me. And so I get. I go, I did nothing to earn my salvation. I did nothing to earn his love. And I am saved by grace through faith. The Bible is so clear so that no one can boast. But here's where I get screwed up my day to day life. Somehow I get this sense, like, he loves me more when I've been obeying him through the week. It's like, okay, he loves me more, or this week he loves me less. And I would never, like, teach that. I'm just telling you how it feels and how somehow, naturally, it's like what Paul told the Galatians. He goes, well, you started by faith, and then you kind of Made works take over. You understood God's grace, but then something messed you up and you start thinking to stay in his love, I've got to do certain things. And so I kind of separated like God's one time act of love and my salvation. And it's almost like after he did that for me, now you're on your own. And now you earn your love by living a good life every week. I just feel that sometimes. And I'm not going to blame it on daddy issues and having a dad who put me up for adoption and didn't want me and I never earned his love. You know, it's just I was blind to it. I didn't understand it. I didn't understand the love of God. But what this verse says is, while we were enemies, if. If when I was an enemy of God, he came down and reconciled me to him. He goes, if that's true, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life? He's saying, wait, if he loved you back then when you were rebellious and you're an enemy of God, now that you're a son of God, how much more is he going to save me from my sin every week and save me from myself? See, I entered into a. I'm a son of God now. So how did Satan get in my head to think, well, he loved me when I was an enemy and pursued me. But now that I'm a son, somehow his love's diminished. And now his love is based upon my actions. No, God loves because he is love. It's out of who he is. And somehow this earning creeps in. And that we would say, well, not for salvation, but for like his daily grace, this daily relationship. If, while we were sinners, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life? God was. Showing me too, how the way I look at his love is. Is different from how I look at other things. I want you to think right now of a physically strong person. Like, who is the. Who's the strongest person you've ever met physically? I still remember. I know exactly on top. I went to baptize a guy years ago and for some reason he came up, shook my hand. Big guy. He goes, hi, I'm the strongest man in the world. Espn. And he really was. I'm like, okay, nice to meet you. I'm Francis, you know, but it was just, I mean, I had to baptize like, he just barely fit seriously, in the baptismal pool and his wife could bench press £400. I was like, this is scary. Okay, so, strongest person I've ever seen, ever known. Think to yourself, who's the biggest, strongest person you've ever seen? Okay, now compare that person's strength to God's. If you had to give a fraction, what would that fraction be of. Of his strength? What fraction of God's strength is that? His. His power compared to that person? Okay, now I want you to think of the most intelligent person you know. Maybe it was a professor. How many are thinking? Me? Thanks, honey. Think of the most intelligent person you know. Like, you just go, wow, this guy is on the next level. I don't even understand half what he says. He's talking about things, you know, Like, I don't even know those words. But who is it? Who do you have in your mind? Now compare his or her mind to God's. Okay, it's just. It's comical, right? It's silly. He's omniscient. He knows everything. He's omnipotent. He's all powerful. Now think about the most loving person you know. Who do you just think, man, this person loves. Oh, this person loves me so much. Who's the most loving person you can think of on the earth right now that you know? You, man, she is so loving. Or he just never thinks of himself. He's always thinking about nothing. He's just so good at loving. Why do I have this gap where when it comes to the love of God, I treat it different from his knowledge, his strength? I get it. That's light years. But when it comes to love, I somehow bring him down to a human level. Like, he maybe loves me as much as Lisa does, or as much as one of my kids loves me, or maybe as much as I love my kids. Do we not believe in the infinite love of God that you think about that one time when you were loved by someone so deeply? Compare that to the love of Christ. God was showing me. You don't trust in my love. I know he's holy. I know he's all powerful. I know that he's all knowing. Do I believe that God is love and his love is infinitely beyond any of ours and that he feels that way about me today, this week? Do I trust in the love of God? Do I know the love of Christ? I mean, I know it. Like, if you gave me a test and does he love me? I would check that box. But again, if you study, like, church history, they would just, you know, the pastors the leaders, I mean, they didn't say, oh, he knows this, he knows this. They would follow. They would live in close quarters and make sure that this person knows the love of Christ. It's. They've tasted of it. You can tell me all the ingredients and you know some recipe, but if you've never tasted it and known it, and it's just a. Ah, that familiar smell and taste and everything, and it's in me. Like, is that the love of God in your life where you just go, I am so loved by him. And there's even something twisted in my mind where I feel like it's, this is the enemy. Like, I'm being arrogant if I say, king Jesus, the Lord of the Universe, is insanely, like, crazy about me.