Radical

I recently finished reading Radical by David Platt. I had never heard of it, but saw it at the bookstore. I wish everyone would read it. The subtitle to the book is Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. The premise is that the American Dream has warped our understanding of what it means to be a Christian.

Have you ever really thought about that? What does the American Dream look like? Someone poor and foreign, comes to this new country, "pulls themselves up by the bootstraps," works hard and is able to achieve everything - wealth, success, fame. And we transfer that over to Christianity - I am poor and foreign to God, new to this "Christian thing;" I "say the prayer" then work hard to "live for Jesus," all the time looking for blessings. Think about how often we say that we must be doing well in our faith if we are prospering materially.

So what does real faith, a real Christian look like? Our lives must be radical - the opposite of this world. My dad's favorite phrase is "Die to it." We are dead to this world. How does that translate into our everyday lives?

I've been doing a lot of reading over the past year. Much has been about believers in other countries. I think we have a lot to learn from them. Think of our brothers and sisters in countries where it's not "hip" to be a Christian. They don't drive around with fish on their vehicles or wearing a cross pendant. They don't have 10 Bibles on their shelves or stacks of CDs of Christian music. What does all of our "stuff" do to actually increase our faith or make us more like Jesus? Does it actually just crowd out what we should really be focusing on or doing?

I've been doing a lot of soul searching and thinking on this. I believe God is calling me to radically live for Him. I know it's easy to say. I know it won't be easy to do. But I know there is more that He wants from me. I want to radically live for Him. Not as a fad or trend. But with my entire life. I'm ready to live for Him - and that means that I die for Him.