Love Does: Discover A Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World
“God finds our failures and our successes, and He says that while we used to think one way about things, now He wants us to think another way about those same things”
At the start of 2020, our church was reading together a book written by a truly fascinating character. He is Consul for the Republic of Uganda, professor at Pepperdine Point Loma Nazarene University, and his primary office is a table at Tom Sawyer Island inside Disneyland theme park. His name is Bob Goff.
It is book 49 of 52 in the Tim Challies 2020 reading challenge, and I am in Love Does: Discover A Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World by Bob Goff. Now, admittedly, I didn’t read the book when the church was going through it, so I am catching up for the lost time.
Bob’s book is primarily a list of 31 different truly engaging and intriguing stories about his life and how God has made his world truly extraordinary. Throughout the book you will read about Bob annoying a Law School Dean into granting him admission, sailing from Los Angeles to Hawaii in a 35ft sailboat, starting a non-profit for children in Uganda, sipping tea with his 10-year-old daughter in London, and writing hundreds of letters to world leaders to have 29 of them respond with invitations to visit with his wife and children.
Bob’s faith is one that does. I will not deny I have substantial theological issues with some of Bob’s statements in his book. However, I am reminded of a moment where D. L. Moody was confronted by a bystander that he didn’t enjoy the evangelist's presentation of the gospel. Moody said he agreed with the man, and asked him how he presents the gospel. The man said that he did not have a particular way. Moody responded in a matter-of-fact tone, “well then, I like my way a lot better than yours.”
Here are my positive highlights:
Passion
“When you go after something you love you’ll do anything it takes to get it, even if it costs you everything” (p. 52).
No one can make the substantiated argument that Bob Goff lacks passion. The man oozes passion. And he believes in surrendering to the immediate calling the Lord has put in front of him at that moment.
Self-admittedly Bob is not a planner. He just does things.
As a man who enjoys strategy, this irks me. I believe that doing things all the time without a plan is a recipe for disaster. And while Bob portrays himself in such a manner in his book, I think that he plans more than he lets on. Yet, he doesn’t let his planning prevent him from surrendering risks to the sovereignty of God.
Security in Christ
“When we get our security from Christ, we no longer have to look for it in the world, and that’s a pretty good trade” (p. 92).
Security in Christ is often preached and talked about at bible studies, but Bob seems to live it. If you start something and fail, why should that upset you? You have found something that God DOESN'T want you to do and probably learned a lot in the process.
Fear of failure has kept so many people living in absolute paralysis that it is scarcely imaginable what might be done if we all just say enough and follow God’s leading in our hearts.
While I would not recommend taking theological positions based on Bob’s book, taking his love for Jesus and willingness to surrender fear of humanity for fear of God are excellent lessons we could all use.
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John Owen came from Welsh descent, was educated at Queens College, and became a renowned Puritan theologian, Oxford professor, and passionate pastor who lived from 1616 to 1683. In 1647, he wrote the exhaustive treatise The Death of Death defending Limited or Definite Atonement against the Arminian view of Universal Atonement or Unlimited Atonement.