The Jesus I used to serve......is the one I made up myself.
That's what I realized when I read this book.
Radical- David Platt
This book..... WHOA! That's all I have to say.
No that's not true!!! I have a lot to say! This book ROCKS IT!
I was concerned when I started reading this book. I won't lie. I'm not always a fan of "social justice" books and I was afraid this was another one of those.
IT IS NOT ONE OF THOSE!
This book is, pure and simple, about JESUS! This book is about the gospel. THE WHOLE GOSPEL! This book is a hard look at the truth of Christ and holding up our lives to the light of that truth.
It's not about orphans or poverty or justice- although those are a part of it. It's not about churches and mission trips- but those things are addressed. This book is SOLELY about JESUS and what HIS heart is for those things.
I realize looking back over my years that the view I had of God was so little. I so desperately wanted Jesus to be safe- one dimensional.
Jesus is anything but safe- anything but shallow.
you MAY have gone through a similar process of struggling. Some of you have walked through this entire process with me THROUGH this blog.
For me it went something like this...
I have cared for years- since I was a small child. I cared, I truly did, I just wasn't aware of the magnitude of what was out there beyond the American bubble. I had been on mission trips, lived overseas and yet still I didn't fully get it. Maybe it was because I was young.
Maybe it's because I didn't really want to know.
What I did know with all my heart is that God wanted me to adopt. So we started our process to bring Zoe home and..
...my American dream came crumbling, crashing, hurling toward the ground.
All the walls I had built so carefully to protect myself were gone the instant I loved this little girl.
For me it went something like this...
I have cared for years- since I was a small child. I cared, I truly did, I just wasn't aware of the magnitude of what was out there beyond the American bubble. I had been on mission trips, lived overseas and yet still I didn't fully get it. Maybe it was because I was young.
Maybe it's because I didn't really want to know.
What I did know with all my heart is that God wanted me to adopt. So we started our process to bring Zoe home and..
...my American dream came crumbling, crashing, hurling toward the ground.
All the walls I had built so carefully to protect myself were gone the instant I loved this little girl.
Suddenly the pain, the abuse, the fear, the poverty, the hunger, the crime.... it wasn't removed or far away...
it was MY LITTLE GIRL!
Now I could look at each of those children in pain and feel in my heart that they were somebody's child, somebody's treasure.
it was MY LITTLE GIRL!
Now I could look at each of those children in pain and feel in my heart that they were somebody's child, somebody's treasure.
It all changed. Deep inside my soul I could feel how God felt when He looked at the reality of sin and despair and saw His people doing NOTHING.
Ohhhh.... that moment.... when the scales came off my eyes... when I broke out of the Matrix and simultaneously
LOST MY MIND!
I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't live like everything was OK! I felt LIKE SCREAMING,
"IT'S NOT OK PEOPLE!!!"
Ohhhh.... that moment.... when the scales came off my eyes... when I broke out of the Matrix and simultaneously
LOST MY MIND!
I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't live like everything was OK! I felt LIKE SCREAMING,
"IT'S NOT OK PEOPLE!!!"
I couldn't quit crying for months. I was broken, shattered, in tiny shards on the ground. I was exactly where God wanted me. This was the place ONLY He could rebuild me.
I struggled and fought against God. All at once issues of sovereignty and God's will felt very real and personal. It now seemed issues of theology weren't just theories to be discussed. They were things I DESPERATELY needed to know.
During that year, (anyone who knows me knows it as "The Guatemala Year"), I WOKE UP! It wasn't that I hadn't had it in me all these years. Somewhere in me I had always had this DNA. That was the year God said, "WAKE UP ANGEL!" And I did... I heard Him. I woke up.
What I saw disturbed me, frightened me, angered me, disgusted me.
There were times I wanted to go back to my American dream land. BUT how could I?
You can't go back.
It's a one way ticket down the rabbit hole.
So at first my heart went ORPHANS!! THIS IS ABOUT ORPHANS!! This is what's been missing.... and I was right... but not really. God used orphans to show me the whole picture.
Slowly, I began to see it. Over time rather than seeing the picture I began to see the html, the matrix, the code. Does that make sense??
The comforts of life that had previously appealed to me made me sick to my stomach. Slowly, the things that had terrified me I was willing to dive into for the sake of something much bigger than myself.
Soon it wasn't just about orphans.
It was about glorifying God.
It was about brokenness and sin. It was about OUR adoption. It was about our slavery to sin and our freedom as beloved children of God.
Eventually I realized the power of the radical life God was asking me to lead. Not only was I being the hands and feet of Christ... more significantly God was using this to GLORIFY HIMSELF!
I guess during my "Guatemala Year" I thought maybe being a Christian, sold out for Jesus, meant you were gonna be sad. After all, I was crushed completely.
I am grateful that I was wrong. My awakening was 4 years ago. These past 4 years I have slowly been learning about compassion- walking into pain. I have slowly been learning about the power of joy. I have seen how entering into someone's pain brings joy that CAN NOT be explained except through the power of Christ.
I struggled and fought against God. All at once issues of sovereignty and God's will felt very real and personal. It now seemed issues of theology weren't just theories to be discussed. They were things I DESPERATELY needed to know.
During that year, (anyone who knows me knows it as "The Guatemala Year"), I WOKE UP! It wasn't that I hadn't had it in me all these years. Somewhere in me I had always had this DNA. That was the year God said, "WAKE UP ANGEL!" And I did... I heard Him. I woke up.
What I saw disturbed me, frightened me, angered me, disgusted me.
There were times I wanted to go back to my American dream land. BUT how could I?
You can't go back.
It's a one way ticket down the rabbit hole.
So at first my heart went ORPHANS!! THIS IS ABOUT ORPHANS!! This is what's been missing.... and I was right... but not really. God used orphans to show me the whole picture.
Slowly, I began to see it. Over time rather than seeing the picture I began to see the html, the matrix, the code. Does that make sense??
The comforts of life that had previously appealed to me made me sick to my stomach. Slowly, the things that had terrified me I was willing to dive into for the sake of something much bigger than myself.
Soon it wasn't just about orphans.
It was about glorifying God.
It was about brokenness and sin. It was about OUR adoption. It was about our slavery to sin and our freedom as beloved children of God.
Eventually I realized the power of the radical life God was asking me to lead. Not only was I being the hands and feet of Christ... more significantly God was using this to GLORIFY HIMSELF!
I guess during my "Guatemala Year" I thought maybe being a Christian, sold out for Jesus, meant you were gonna be sad. After all, I was crushed completely.
I am grateful that I was wrong. My awakening was 4 years ago. These past 4 years I have slowly been learning about compassion- walking into pain. I have slowly been learning about the power of joy. I have seen how entering into someone's pain brings joy that CAN NOT be explained except through the power of Christ.
There is NOTHING I do that brings me greater joy than obedience to my Father.
Our Father is a defender of widows, orphans and strangers.
He is not SAFE!
He is GOOD!
If you hear His voice He WILL ask you to do things that are not comfortable, are not rational, are not the norm in America.
If your God never asks you to do anything that stretches you, scares you, makes you EXTREMELY uncomfortable, I would read the gospels- study Jesus- and ask,
"Who IS my God?"
Are we really serving the God of the Bible or one we have created?
If we TRULY LISTEN and obey like little children, where will He lead us?
If you have woken up, are waking up, want to wake up.... I beg you to read this book.
If you have woken up, are waking up, want to wake up.... I beg you to read this book.
Are you waking up?
Wow. Have you read the book?
ReplyDeleteI've started it, so far its very good! It's similar in subject to "Crazy Love", which is my favorite book.
ReplyDeleteI've seen Crazy Love around a bit. I've never read it. I guess I best pick up a copy of it.
ReplyDelete