Reckless Love: Jesus' Call to Love Our Neighbor

by Tom Berlin

How did Jesus teach the Greatest Commandment to his disciples?


In his latest book Reckless Love , author and Pastor Tom Berlin writes that Jesus taught them to love neighbor first as a way to more deeply love God.


In his exploration of Jesus’ teaching and travels with his disciples, Berlin suggests that Jesus teaches us how to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength by showing us how to love our neighbor. While many hope to learn to be better family, friends, leaders, and neighbors by finding a deeper relationship with God, what if becoming a better neighbor leads you to that deeper love of God?
In Reckless Love , you will consider your life, and learn how loving the people around you will completely renew your faith and give you a new experience of loving God.

Additional components for a six-week study include a DVD featuring Tom Berlin and a comprehensive Leader Guide.

Genres: Faith, Religion, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

Published April 16, 2019

Reviews

[Beth]

Rating caveat: 3.5
3 stars general
4 stars lenten study
When used as a lenten study guide, combined with leader book and videos, I give this 4 stars. Outside that context 3.

Berlin is seasoned at taking the reader through lessons, aligned to a liturgical period, with humor and personal connection. His pace easily keeps the reader engaged. Those familiar with his sermons will find his same style and messages here in his writing.

For an individual or small group lenten study, this has a strong message of love and acceptance for our communities. The BE LOVE Journey we embark upon in this book guides the reader to examine behaviors, attitudes and prejudices which may hinder one's ability to actively love your neighbors. With a chapter for each week in lent, there is definitely a benefit to intentionslly reading this book slowly and attempt to absorb/interalize each step before moving on.

[Karen Berlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now available on audio, listening to this book is as inspiring and helpful as reading it. The practical lessons, humor, and insights the author extrapolates from Christ's teachings and time with his disciples make this a book to return to annually to better follow the example of Christ and grow in capacity to love.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very insightful and thought-provoking book. It really does make you look at your life and how you can follow the greatest commandments as specified by Christ: to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is a must-read for all Christians seeking to live their lives in Christ, and for anyone seeking spiritual guidance.

[Debbie Babbage · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for a book study and thought it offered a lot insight on how and why we are called to love recklessly. Every chapter brought about a lot of discussion in the group. I didn’t care too much for the videos that accompanied the study. The content was good but him driving around in the car was distracting. I would definitely read another of his books.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this in our Sunday School class recently and it was also used in a series of sermons by our pastors. It was an excellent way to start some discussions in our church family because of course it is easy to love the comfortable and familiar but making the leap to those who are not in your comfort zone is much more difficult. Nevertheless that is what Christians are called to do and I have to admit that I am better at recognizing this than actually following this path. So many ways for me to improve myself and loving others as myself is one I continue to work on.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. We used it in a Men's Group study along with the video and we all found it to be a good illustration of how we should love on one another and what showing that love really means. It's hard for guys to talk about connecting. We're more interested in establishing position. We can't help it, because we're hard wired for that sort of communication. So we have to really try to do better, and Tom Berlin showed us how to apply the love of Jesus to our everyday interactions. Good stuff.

[Robert Conder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Berlin challenges us to love our neighbors by expanding our circle to those we may not ordinarily love. It is a command that has been given to us by Jesus. As you read the book and scriptures, you find we have not followed the command, we have allowed our own thoughts and the push of the world to cause us not to love. I recommend the video and the Leader’s Guide. The guide gives the full scripture that are not always in the book. Recommend for small groups and individuals.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book centers on Christ’s commandment to love God and our neighbor. I read it a chapter at a time to coincide with a Bible Study. The video series and the book complement one another. Tom Berlin’s writing is engaging and his message is powerful, especially during our divided times. I bought my own copy and underlined and used post-it notes heavily. His illustrations range from moving to hilarious and are memorable. We all need this book.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Berlin's Book was much more relatable compared to either of Steven Harper’s books that I read recently, “For the Sake of the Bride” and “Holy Live.” He interviewed people from all walks of life to discuss loving one's neighbor as Jesus would have us do even if he or she doesn’t share the same background or political views that we have.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook: This book was chosen for our small group. Several chapters really hit home including how to include everyone vs finding ways to exclude people. It emphasizes how Jesus focus on love is our faith calling.

[Chuck Tilman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent map to expanding one's self into a means of doing what God calls us to do - love our neighbor. Practical, informative, challenging... all with the goal of doing the work that Jesus set us to do in being his disciples.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounded from 3.5

[Lisa Moschkau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes more direction than variety of examples. It was good to read in a book study where I experienced more from the book than I read.

[Mindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book - lot to consider - especially powerful in this time of unrest, tension and strife.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read and lead this study with our small group. A very good book for our time. What is love in God's eyes? Who is our neighbor? How can we love our neighbor? Ideas presented to answer these questions.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book on Loving our Neighbor. Church study.

[Natalie Griner · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent challenge that asks you to define what really loving your neighbor should be and how Jesus did it.

Our world needs more of this kind of love.

[shari bumpers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book

I loved everything about this book especially the last chapter. I enjoy books that make me see Jesus as well as myself differently.

[Joy Kimbrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this for dialogue and discussion in our Kindred Spirits SS/small group. Helps us to think about what loving our neighbors really looks like.

[Carsten Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worked great as a congregational study, spurring some positive conversations. Videos were well received too.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was short (only 137 pages) but I brings perspective in our modern society. Many powerful lines that resonated with me.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a good book, but I’d recommend reading instead of audiobook.

[Andrea Curry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed Berlin's use of the acronym BE LOVE as a grounding force throughout the book. This served as a great touchpoint as I preached this text in a sermon series at my church. The material landed well and was challenging for the congregation. A perfect Lenten series.

[Everydayreader1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

author and Pastor Tom Berlin explains that to love your neighbor as yourself is the way to more deeply love and serve God. Each chapter illustrate how, as followers of Jesus, we can begin to do this: Begin with Love; Expand the Circle; Lavish Love; Openhearted Love; Value the Vulnerable; and Emulate Christ. He offers real life examples of how Jesus taught the disciples this concept and applies it to our time.

A paragraph from the book explains the principle far better than I can. "One look at the group Jesus first assembled as his followers tells us that something is lost when sameness is the defining characteristic of a church. Jesus’ example teaches us that something is wrong when we leave out people who differ from us and only feel at home when everyone is the same. His goal is not to make us more of what we are, but help us to become what we can be. That requires us to expand our understanding of what it means to love our neighbor."

What I found so wonderful about this book is how the author reveals the simplicity of the Gospel. It is not a hard and harsh set of rules one has to obey, as some preach. It is really the essence of who God is. God is love. And, by loving my neighbor as myself, I am loving and serving God. I also appreciated Pastor Berlin's discussion of racism, the enslavement of African Americans, and the dishonorable treatment of indigenous people by Christians--and how that was then and still is not acceptable. As he so aptly points out, we are all God's children. He created each of us. Pastor Berlin also affirms my belief that Jesus is the first and foremost advocate for economic and social justice, and we need to be also.