During the month of June (and honestly, partly into July) I
have been challenged by this book, Radical, by David Platt. Platt is a young
pastor of a growing church in Birmingham, Alabama. I have recently been exposed
to his ministry in other places as well, and this is one solid man of God. His
passion for God, His Word, and the Lost is so evident in this book.
The whole premise of “Radical” is that Americans have lost
sight of what true discipleship (or following Christ) is all about. We think
that we are all entitled a rich, comfortable, and luxurious lifestyle because
we live in America. You know the American dream: a large house with a white
picket fence, a family with children, and the nice car parked out front. None
of these things are bad in and of themselves, but they can slowly, but surely,
lull us to sleep as Christians. Bring us into a deep slumber where we end up
completely forgetting what following Jesus Christ is all about.
No, I am not an America hater. I love my country. But Platt
challenges us to cast off our deadly materialism and idolatry and embrace our
freedoms given by God to do His purpose in His world. We should use our
freedoms and incredibe monetary blessings from God to reach out and “shake the
nations” as David Platt puts it so often.
David Platt is well traveled. He makes an intentional effort
to travel around the world and bring the gospel to those who have never heard
it. He also visits disciples of Christ around the globe who are risking
everything to follow Jesus. This book is peppered with personal experiences of
being exposed to men and women, who hunger for God’s Word more than the physical
bread they usually lack; who thirst for teaching from the Bible more than the clean
water they live without. When we compare
what these believers do to hear God’s Word to what we as Americans (myself
especially!) do it quite convicting. Americans all across our county meet
weekly (if it doesn’t interfere too much with our schedules or lives) at
multimillion dollar buildings with parking lots filled with millions more
dollars worth of cars and so “sacrificially” give two to three hours of our
lives to sit and listen to the Bible intently…at least until our stomach
grumbles or the preacher is cutting into that all too important football game!
Well, then time’s up! Time to stumble out of our pews and to forget all we have
heard and go on until next Sunday where we may or may not carve out enough time
for God.
I challenge you to read this book. I must be honest: sometimes
I was terrified reading this book. I was scared that God might dig too deeply
into my life and ask me to give up something I love too much. Well, God did
challenge me. He challenged me to examine my life and priorities in Bible study
and prayer. He challenged me in my materialism. I so desire to serve God
overseas someday, Lord willing, but I was forced to evaluate my life. If that
day should come, how easily could I sell all of my earthly possessions to
enable myself to be free to go and share the gospel in a foreign land? But I praise the Lord that as He continues to
search my heart that He will also give me grace and strength to do all the
things He will ask me to do. He is so good to me (us).
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