Radical-What?

Reading Francis Chan's "Crazy Love" has forced us to evaluate the facets of our life- including the attitude of our heart, the reasons we make life/daily decisions, the investments we put forth -in finances, in time, in prayer-and the ways we have viewed particular Christians as being 'radical', living a more extreme life for others than us--thinking about the service of Mother Theresa, martyrs like Jim Elliot, and evangelists like Billy Graham. All of these individuals resonate in some way of our thinking as being one that far outweighs our ability to follow Christ that 'sacrificially' and that selflessly.

We evaluate that in this culture there are a group of Christians that are placed in a category of living radical because they live life to what we coin, 'extreme' in the faith. Chan challenges the concept of downsizing so that others may be upgraded- A Christ follower or not, we believe that all could agree there is great pain and suffering in this world. The fact that injustice infiltrates our world is not merely a spiritual truth but a transparent need that others who are dying due to poverty are desperate for us to consider their plights and take action. Chan stated that he cannot say "everyone is supposed to be a missionary" or "you need to sell your car and start taking public transportation" to be part of downsizing for other's lives to be upgraded- What he was saying is that those of us who are Christ followers "must learn to listen to and obey God, especially in a society where it's easy and expected to do what is most comfortable."

We reflected that we were pulled into changing our priorities in order to feel more comfortable in our walk with Christ. What we realized is that there are no 'categories' of Christ followers recorded in the patterns lived by Jesus. Burdened by our idolization of 'saints' such as Mother Theresa and the like, we became consumed by thinking others could serve God more faithfully than us. When we look at our lives, we see that we either follow the example of Jesus, or we don't- Even though God has called us to the avenue of investing in Kenya we reflect that he has called others into the corporate world & other avenues to serve for the exact same purpose- There are truths that parallel for those of us who are Christ followers and follow after the selfless examples of those we uphold as being diligent servants for the Lord : We realize that if we are walking in the patterns set for us by Jesus, that we are to: 1) Love the Lord God with all our heart, our mind, and our soul and 2) Love our neighbor as ourselves- Often times, we ignore the literal truth of this second implication for our lives.

This realization in our lives, forced us to ask ourselves some really difficult questions: Do we really love others as much as ourselves? We can follow both of these commands wherever we are, whatever the avenue God places us in, but do we follow through? When was the last time we invested time with someone else in the amount we spend on ourselves? Have we ever spent money on entertainment/eating out/shopping and then gave the same amount to someone who was in need? These questions sounded so 'radical' and extreme to think that we should consider the ways we invest our time and our finances in the same way to others as we do ourselves- especially in the influence of our culture to always strive for success and for fullness. Then we asked ourselves that if we truly believe in the pattern set for us by Jesus then shouldn't we live out our lives in what the Bible teaches us? Rather than viewing this as 'radical,' isn't this a 'normal' reflection of how we should be as Christ followers?

"When people make changes in their lives like this, it carries greater impact than when they merely make impassioned declarations. The world needs Christians who don't tolerate the complacency of their own lives." -Chan

To state again, Oh Lord that our lives may count for something greater than ourselves. It is never a comfortable moment to evaluate the reasons we do certain things in our life- It is often times convicting, burdensome, guilt driven, and at times just plain depressing. In moments where we raise 'saints' and 'martyrs' as idols and closer to the Lord than us, we are convicted that rather than idolizing them, we need to spend that time before God listening to His direction for our own avenue of service for Him.