Radical

I picked up Radical by David Platt at the local library to take on vacation.  I know I've read the book before.  I think it was around the time we sent our dossier off to Ethiopia for the first time.  It is hard for me to believe that 3 years later as I re-read it I feel like I'm reading it for the first time.  I read another book at the beginning of vacation that was a lot of food for thought, so I ended up putting off reading this one until we got home yesterday.

Just a few pages in and I started to feel something inside that isn't pretty.  This book is making me examine who I am as a Christian.  Am I really doing what Jesus asks of me?  One passage from the book talks about how we as American Christians have begun to take the Jesus of the Bible and make him into someone that we are comfortable with.  A Jesus who "doesn't mind our materialism".  A Jesus who is "fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts."  A Jesus who "wants us to avoid danger altogether."  Instead of molding us into Jesus' image we are molding Jesus into our image.  Wow!  The author then takes it a step further and says that we "may not actually be worshiping the Jesus of the Bible.  Instead we may be worshiping ourselves."  I don't know that I've ever looked at things that way before, but reading it and re-reading it makes me uncomfortable.  It makes me examine my heart and I'm not sure I like what I see.

Another part early on in the book talks about how so many Christians think they will be getting into heaven just because they've accepted Jesus as their Savior, but in reality living as a Christian is so much more than that.  And, he points out that you don't have to earn your way into heaven, but if you have Jesus in your heart you want to live differently for him.  I think about the verse in Revelation that talks about being "lukewarm" and how Jesus would spit you out.  How often am I "lukewarm"?

Another point Platt makes is that God purposely puts people in situations where they have to be completely dependent on Him so He can show His ability to provide for a person's needs in a way that no one else could.  I often think of Judah's adoption and how God continually provided for us through the help of others and Jeremy and I both know it was only because of God that we were able to adopt Judah without taking on debt (that was what we prayed for because we were doing The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey at the same time).  This time around we went and got a loan for "just in case".  I now question if that was the right decision.  By doing that was I saying that I didn't think God could provide the second time around?  Am I not giving God enough credit to walk us through the process a second time?  I will admit, I do worry whether we'll have to dip into that money.  Jeremy reminds me all the time that if we do, we will walk away from it with a beautiful child.  A child God created and one that needs the love of a family and that makes it worth it all.

Platt talks about how he decided to hold a Secret Church after he had attended underground hidden churches in India.  He wondered if people would actually show up just to study the Word of God, there would be no "entertainment" value.  Over 1,000 people showed up the first night, so they now regularly hold studies like this.  I have wondered what it would be like to go back to the early church days and hold "house churches".  Jeremy would certainly miss playing his guitar and I know I would miss singing the worship songs, but I can understand how sometimes those things can distract from what going to church is really about; learning more through God's word.

So, where does this book leave me now?  I have not finished reading it.  I'm still trying to digest the first 80 pages I've read.  I think right now I have more questions running through my head than I do answers.

Have any of you read Radical?  Any thoughts you care to share?
Sarah