Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
The runaway New York Times bestseller!
Can a simple concept shift your entire world? Bob certainly thinks so. When it comes to loving your neighbors, rather than focusing on having the "right answers" or checking the "right boxes," what if you decide to simply DO love? To shamelessly show love and grace to those around you? What would that look like?
It might look like spending sixteen days in the Pacific Ocean with five guys and a crate of canned meat. It might look like taking your kids on a world tour to eat ice cream with heads of state. It might look like taking a road trip with a stressed-out college student--even though you just got married a few days before.
In Love Does, Bob shows you:
- how to live a fully engaged life
- how to stop putting things off until "next time" and instead find your place of imagination, whimsy, and wonder today
- that God usually chooses ordinary people to get things done
When love does, life gets interesting. Light and fun, unique and profound, the lessons drawn from Bob's life and attitude in this collection of stories just might inspire you to be secretly incredible, too. If you love Love Does, don't forget to check out Everybody, Always and Dream Big for more of Bob's delightful and inspiring stories!
Bob Goff
Bob Goff is the author of the New York Times bestselling Love Does; Everybody, Always; Dream Big; and Undistracted, as well as the bestselling Love Does for Kids. He's a lover of balloons, cake pops, and helping people pursue their big dreams. Bob's greatest ambitions in life are to love others, do stuff, and most importantly, to hold hands with his wife, Sweet Maria, and spend time with their amazing family. For more, check out BobGoff.com and LoveDoes.org.
More audiobooks from Bob Goff
Live in Grace, Walk in Love: A 365-Day Journey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Undistracted: Capture Your Purpose. Rediscover Your Joy. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When Faith Fails: Finding God in the Shadow of Doubt Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dream Big: Know What You Want, Why You Want It, and What You’re Going to Do About It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Have More Fun: How to Be Remarkable, Stop Feeling Stuck, and Start Enjoying Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Joni: An Unforgettable Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Get Past Your Past: How Facing Your Broken Places Leads to True Connection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Better Together': How Women and Men Can Heal the Divide and Work Together to Transform the Future Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love Does for Kids Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Irresistible Faith: Becoming the Kind of Christian the World Can't Resist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everybody, Always for Kids Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
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Reviews for Love Does
579 ratings42 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very inspiring and engaging story. The reader was very funny. And he definitely encourages me to just go for it. Why hesitate? Just follow what God is leading to you to do.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The audio confused chapter 5 with what was supposed to be chapter 3, some of the words that were in the book isn't in the audio.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bob has a way of making you feel fearless because of the love of Jesus. He’s revolutionized the way I live out my faith and I give this book out like candy. When I listened to Bob speak for the first time, I wondered how I never hear of him before. Thank you, Bob, for writing this book and being who you are!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Life changing and so inspiring! Bob Goff is an incredible man of faith who shows us what “Love Does” and inspires us to live like Jesus. Love this book and would recommend to ALL!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great life giving book, you can tell they passion to love and live that Bob Goff has. This isn't a self help book nor going to change your life by reading it. But honestly there is no book that is going to change your life. you have to be the one to do that. Bob Goff simply wrote about things that happened in his life that shaped him. Challenging book if you line it up to your life and see how you compare.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bob Goff is a fantastic writer, Theologian, Missionary, family man, and most of all a man after God’s own Heart ! This book was amazing, eye opening, and Inspiring!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the most amazing books I have ever read (listened to...most of it while cleaning my house in spurts while my children where occupied). Truly inspiring! My goal is to not just be encouraged and inspired but to take action! Also, I think a trip to Disneyland is a must....
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I read this a few years ago - reading EVERYBODY ALWAYS- made me want to go through it again - so Good - loved listening to this - so inspiring- I want to live in greater LOVE & DO my faith / rather than just study to argue it - THANKS BOB GOFF -
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Out of nearly 100 books reviewed through my ministry, this comes in amongst the worst 5. Bob Goff is clearly disqualified to be a Christian author.
PROS
+ He has a great writing talent and his voice was a good choice for the audiobook.
+ His practical focus is laudable, but his practical standards are highly problematic.
+ Beautiful example of his itl. trips with his 10-year old children (although of course also a display of his elite status).
CONS
- He preaches a Gospel light. Just "remain inside the circle" and everything will be fine. Jesus does not ask for anything else ...
- Goff has all the marks of being a member of the Emerging Church (Liberal doctrine / Relativism over sound theology · Personal interpretation (eisegesis) over exegetical or expository Bible study · Experience over reason · Subjectivity over objectivity · Spirituality over religion · Christianity as a Relationship only, not a Religion · Outward over inward · Feelings over truth · Seeker Sensitive · Non-confrontational · It’s not my place to judge). He shows also many marks of Progressive Christianity. He calls all statements of faith religious, his mission statement is "be awesome'.
- The entire book follows the scheme of first / alternately recounting some embarrassing stories (clearly false humility) in order to then generate the mental allowance to shamelessly brag how extraordinary his life is (his friend is a bestseller, another friend the inventor of a popular drink, even his children are friends of high ranking politicians ...). I have seen this scheme now repeatedly in American books. When you see someone putting himself down, you know that he will very soon brag about himself. The book is replete of self-centered parables, while injecting Jesus as an afterthought and often making very strange and clumsy connections from his self-centered stories to Jesus or to biblical love. In one clumsy example, he compared a botched valentines card to God's love. Or a destroyed wedding cake with stones and dirt inside to God's love ...
- His depiction of biblical love is faulty at best. He does not even biblically define what love is. He actually opposes at the end of the book those who demand the Greek meanings of love or other words. He has little interest in the Bible, but in himself decorated with the Bible. Christianity is a means for him. Of the very Bible verses, I do not remember one actual quote, but only paraphrases.
- He is very elitist and several times in the book degrades professions such as key makers e.g. versus lawyers. Strong anti-Christian attitude.
- He speaks about God as a 'guy', and a few chapters later of the apostles as 'guys'. Absolutely zero holiness in the book.
- He promotes lying through the book. He even lied at a hearing test. No repentance, no warning to readers. He remembers to have had 17 bruises in high school sports. Very difficult to believe all details of the book. It is also hard to believe that he went on a roadtrip with a friend the day after his wedding and did not know nor was told by him that he had married, until they returned days later to the wife. Sounds rather than a (partly) invented story.
- He promotes stealing without any signs of repentance. He and his wife stole services worth more than $400 from his friend, and he sells it to his readers as a prank. Years after the theft, he still feared his retaliation. Crazy to find something like this in a Christian book.
- After he and his entire family stole themselves into a movie set and he bragged to have been with Nicolas Cage, he compared the security guards to religious people and compared them to pharisees. Speechless.
- He promotes the 'bigger and better' game, where intentionally something of low value is offered to gain something better. This is highly antibiblical. At least they (his friend) donated the product of that game.
- He promotes guns (4 or 5 stories involving guns; the word 'gun' or 'rifle' is used 67 !!! times in the book). He recounted with a lot of pride his wounds from a pellet gun and earlier from his dad's gun shooting inside their house.
Quote: "He (his dad) would also go off on tangents about how guns were mentioned in the Constitution, and the way I remember it, it was OUR RESPONSIBILITY (this is sick!) as Americans to own them, and Americans are supposed to train their children to use guns so they can SHOOT THE BRITISH IF THEY TRY THE INVASION THING again (this is very sick, this author has a serious problem!)."
I have never ever seen such a blatant promotion of guns in a Christian book. Jesus Christ despises even the readiness for violence. He looks at our heart.
- He indeed endorses violence, again without any corrective comment or sign of repentance.
Quote, his childhood: "We started our fight with a lot of pushing and shoving and tough talk. Then we slugged each other for a while and traded headlocks. By the time a teacher came over to break it up, Dale was covered in blood. Nobody realized all of it was mine, so I declared myself the winner and we both got suspended for a couple of days. HERE’S AN IMPORTANT THING TO NOTE. If you’re going to schedule a fight with a bully and risk getting suspended from school, ALWAYS PICK A FIGHT ON A THURSDAY. That way, you get a long weekend out of the deal."
Quote: "So when my clients are being deposed, I tell them all the same thing each time: sit in the chair and answer the questions, but do it with your hands palms up the whole time. I tell them to literally have the backs of their hands on their knees and their palms toward the bottom of the table. I’M VERY SERIOUS ABOUT THIS. In fact, I THREATEN TO KICK THEM IN THE SHINS if I look down and they don’t have their palms up."
While pursuing his work as a lawyer, he actually sent two arguing Christian clients into a literal boxing ring. No words of the help through an elder or biblical counselling. A boxing ring ...
- He physically waited and stalked for ~8 days the responsible for admission at the law school, and then praised this as a model we ought to pursue. If things do not work out, then we maybe have to force them, and God still might be behind it ... >> a shameless self-glorification of his rather unhealthy persistence.
- He first writes against materialism and endorses himself for not having a car, then later in the book brags himself for having purchased a painting "worth four times a car".
- When he recounts of having been rejected by a girl in his youth, he speaks about visiting the house of Freemasons as the most normal thing of the world.
- He endorsed C.S. Lewis (believed in purgatory; Tao is the highest morality; rejected biblical inerrancy; theistic evolutionist; considered Hindu, Buddhist and Muslims as brothers in Christ).
- Promotion of Taylor Swift. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great book, it’s keeps you engaged through the entire book. I love each stories told. Great read and gave me a whole new perspective on how I view my relationship with God.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5An intriguing introduction to Goff's life, but an oversimplified illustration of the life of Jesus and His gracious Gospel to the underserved.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Prepare to be challenged! Excellent book - challenges our ideas of living a ‘normal life’ in not accepting the status quo.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5LOVE this book!! Love the message and the gentle, convicting, yet inspiring voice of Bob!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved it! Changed the way I think and love! Love Bob’s storytelling ?
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a wonderful book! I recommend it.. packed full of inspiration!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bob makes the compelling case to not just be hearers off the Word but to be doers! This book is humorous, transparent and very convicting. I don’t want to waste my life just talking about loving others in a tangible way, I want to do it!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The audio jumps out of order several times, please fix! Thanks!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Huzzah!! Finally a book (other than the Bible) that talks not about what love is, but what “Love Does”. This was amazing. It made me laugh out loud, wince in pain, and ugly cry. It even made me want to write a review… which I have never done.
Great work, Bob! I only wish I had heard about it a decade ago when it was released. I’m a new fan but, more importantly, newly inspired to squeeze every drop out of life and my relationships with friends, family, and God…. And to not use “that” so much anymore. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You feel so positive and uplifted after finishing the book :)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I laugh a lot with this book. It was wonderful and very easy to listen too.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The author’s witty style makes for a fun read (listen) but the heart of this book is that as Christians we need to talk less about the Love of God and do more to show it to others, especially those we deem unlovable. We need to build relationships with the lost and the broken so that God can use us to make a difference in their specific situations.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Another great book, Bob. Not only did I learn to harness the love fostered in my heart. The night I finished this book was the night I actually made my love do for the first time through evangelism. God is good all the time. God is good.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is an awesome book about how we can put our love for Jesus in action by loving people. Most of the ways are simple everyday ways. We need look for ways everyday to share his love.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Easy to read and listen to. Such a good and inspiring book about loving like Jesus and not just sitting around thinking about love but actually doing things about it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love it!
Such incredible stories. Bob and those around him are doers and that’s rare in this generation. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Funny, inspiring and true. I really enjoyed listening to it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great stories of a life lived large and outside the box!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An awesome book of essays that demonstrate love in action in both small ways and big ways. Goff discusses his work in Uganda, but also shares about his experiences in his early years and kindnesses he was able to share with others throughout his life. Goff has a unique perspective on what it means to “live large.” Inspiring without being saccharine sweet. Worth it!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bob Goff is a new name to me, but I'm glad I've discovered his writing. This book is a series of short writings about events that have happened to him, the idea behind all of them being that love doesn't just feel, love acts. Goff truly follows his heart and in the process has made the world a better place. Not many of us can do what he has done, simply because our jobs and finances don't allow it, but we can think of ways in our own lives that can demonstrate love through action, to family, friends, and to people we don't know.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Oh this was an OK book. I tried to like it, I did, but the author seems a bit too self important and too much like a motivational speaker. I was trying to squelch my snide side, but it kept coming out as I read more.Goff has some valuable things to say, and I did feel challenged at times, but mostly I felt annoyed by his attempts at humor (which came through as just that- attempts- and somewhat ingenuine, as though he were trying too hard to make the reader think, "boy this guy is witty and wild."Goff's premise is basically this: go do stuff. Don't just talk about how great it would be to adopt an orphan from Uganda, just do it. Like the antithesis of Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign, Goff's is "Just Say Yes". Be spontaneous. Show up. Hop on a plane, right now.Goff is undeniably a risk taker, kind of like the late Steve Irwin. He strikes me as a very impetuous sort, who would drive his wife crazy with all his outrageous ideas. And probably many other people as well, even perhaps some readers....