Radical By David Platt

I bought a new book called Radical by David Platt. It focuses on how Christianity in America has become so watered down that we are spending less time letting God work through us to impact the nation and world for Jesus Christ and spending more time pursuing the American Dream. Indeed, as a Christian, I have admittingly spent much time pursuing the "American Dream" and finding out the dream turned into a nightmare - living to make enough money to buy a good house, having a family, making a decent income, having good health, etc. is NOT the ultimate goal of an American Christian. Glorifying God is to be our main purpose. Here are some quotes from the book that I thought were sweet.

"As long as you and I understand salvation as checking off a box to get to God, we will find ourselves in the meaningless sea of world religions that actually condemn the human race by exalting our supposed ability to get to God. On the other hand, when you and I realize that we are morally evil, dead in sin and deserving of God's wrath with no way out on our own, we begin to discover our desperation for Christ."

"The modern-day gospel says, 'God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Therefore, follow these steps, and you can be saved.' Meanwhile, the biblical gospel says, 'You are an enemy of God, dead in your sin, & in your present state of rebellion, you are not even able to see that you need life, much less to cause yourself to come to life. Therefore, you are radically dependent on God to do something in your life that you could never do."

“This is where we come face to face with a dangerous reality. We do have to give up everything to follow Jesus. We do have to love Him in a way that makes our closest relationships in this world look like hate. And it is entirely possible that He will tell us to sell everything we have and give it to the poor. . . . We rationalize these passages away. . . And this is where we need to pause. Because we are starting to redefine Christianity. . . We are molding Jesus into our image. He is beginning to look a lot like us. . . And the danger now is that when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshiping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead we may be worshiping ourselves.“

“God beckons storm clouds, and they come. He tells the wind to blow and the rain to fall, and they obey immediately. He speaks to the mountains, ‘You go there,’ and he says to the seas, ‘You stop here,’ and they do it. Everything in all creation responds in obedience to the Creator…until we get to you and me. We have the audacity to look God in the face and say, ‘No.’“

I see over the horizon a light beginning to show and I know the Master is on His way. I want to be found doing His work on my last day here. I can't wait to resume this journey now as a RADICAL.