A Radical Idea

The move was to a house only two minutes away.

It was not because of a great plan, nor a simple whim. It was purposeful, even though it was not perfectly planned out. I did it because God said to go and then flung open the doors. If you’ve been following the story of In Jars of Clay {tales of a hometown missionary} on my blog, then you know that the “impact” from my move to the worst street in town reaped a thousand fold in my own heart.

There is another part of the story that fills me with sadness. The part where Christian’s frowned on the move and some even discouraged us from such an endeavor. “You don’t understand what goes on there…” they told us.

It wasn’t everyone, thankfully. There were many who offered prayers, encouragement and even physical aide and financial assistance. But I still feel sad about the many who seemed stunned or confused by a purposeful move into a place full of darkness.

I understand that we were just ordinary girls. We hadn’t been trained in dealing with drug addicts. We hadn’t been taught what to do when we witnessed domestic violence. We didn’t have any degrees. We were just girls.

But why does the fact that God uses ordinary people surprise us all?

David Platt, author of Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream and Radical Together: Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God, would say that we’re surprised because we have become a culture where Jesus isn’t worth losing everything for.

It has become the work of missionaries, ministers or evangelists to share the gospel and the idea of identifying all the places where we have community (our homes, our work, our church, the gym, the library, that Starbucks you stop at 3 or 4 times a week… ) as the place where God has called you to boldly and truthfully proclaim the Word of Life has become obsolete.

Oh, friends. This should not be. It makes me wonder… do we really know Him? 

I would highly recommend reading Radical and Radical Together but if you don’t have time for two full-length books then I have a suggestion.

The Radical Question and A Radical Idea

This book is small, short and to the point. 

It is the explanation of what God was trying to teach me all those years ago– the explanation of what my husband has embraced in his walk with Christ and an explanation of what Jesus was teaching in the New Testament.

• If you’re not willing to give all (like the picture of the Rich Man in Mark 10) then can you truly be His disciple?
• If you aren’t willing to walk away from everything for the Kingdom of God, then is it possible that you don’t understand the worth of that Kingdom?

I’m not writing this out of knowledge, friends. I’m asking myself the same questions.

I often say that I am willing to give all, but the truth is that I expect God to allow me to retain what I want. But I am beginning to see and understand that “storing  up treasure in heaven” often does mean losing everything here on earth.

Let’s live like He’s worth something? Because He is. 

This book was sent to me in exchange
for my honest review from
Multnomah Publishing.