A Different Kind of Comfortable

I'm currently reading Radical: Taking Your Faith Back from The American Dream by David Platt. I personally believe this book is exceptional and worthy to be read by all, but I am also convinced that a majority of people would abhor this book for the content of this book is not always easy to read. It forces you to look at yourself and your faith and to determine whether it is self-centered or God-centered. As I am reading this book, my heart is excited by what Platt writes and what could happen across the world if we lived in total abandonment to Christ, but even still, I feel the enemy combating everything I read, showing me excuses about why certain things aren't true or why this doesn't apply to me, but the reality is that they are, and it does. I'm only a portion of a way through the book, but wanted to share some of the quotes that are challenging and inspiring my heart.

"Somewhere along the way we had missed what is radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable. We were settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves."

"Is His word enough for us?"

"The question for us, then, is whether we trust in His power. And the problem for us is that in our culture, we are tempted at every turn to trust in our own power instead."

"We ask God for gifts in prayer and He gives us the Giver. We ask God for supply and He gives us the Source."

"It's a foundational truth: God creates, blesses and saves each of us for a radically global purpose."

"We have unnecessarily drawn a line of distinction assigning the obligations of Christianity to a few while keeping the privileges of Christianity for us all."

"God has given us His grace to extend His glory to the end of the earth."

I would quote the entire book, but it's already been written. Every chapter excites my heart, as Platt talks about how as believers we are called to spread the gospel to all nations and what that looks like. I'm challenged to not live the comfortable, self-centered Christian life. It's not about me or what I like or what I want- God has redeemed me for His glory and His purposes, not so that I can be comfortable. It's not about picking and choosing what part of God's word applies to my life, every word was God-breathed and intentional. It all applies, the commands apply just as much as the promises. While it's a challenge not to choose the comfortable, easy path, it's not a path that I want to take. I want to live fully abandoned to the Creator of the Universe and let Him guide my path, for He promises plans to give me a hope and future and not to harm me. While He doesn't say it will also be comfortable, I'm a different kind of comfortable resting in His hands.

week 9: Churches in Iraq have been targeted by bombs; believers are afraid to meet there. Pray for courage.

We Are The Solution

As I was filling out an application, I was required to write a written response to the following question: What local, national, or global challenge most concerns you? As issues kept streaming to my mind, they were all accompanied by the question- why is this such an issue? The possible answer to that question is my greatest concern. It is the reality that the majority of society is indifferent to the reality of those around them, particularly those who are less fortunate or in more need than themselves. I believe that the society we live in recognizes issues such as homelessness, addictions, drop-out rates, and poverty and even recognizes solutions to the issues, but are not compelled to act. This concerns me because if we are not moved by the desperate situations that we are exposed to, how will we ever become a part of the solution?

I must admit that I have been guilty of indifference. There have been many times where I have seen brokenness and not stopped to give it a second thought. Times when I have been too self-absorbed in my own life to see the needs of those around me. Times where I was not moved in the slightest after hearing about a situation that should have broken my heart. It's happened more times in my life than it should, especially as a follower of Jesus.

But as I've been reading the Word this past month, the commandment to love God and to love others is continually being placed on my heart. As my love for God has increased, so has my love for His people. God has been showing me that too often I choose who I am going to love and not allowing or asking my heart to be broken for what breaks His. As a result of this realization, I began to change my prayer, asking God to break my heart for what breaks His and He did, and I pray that He continues to open my eyes to see the situations right in my own community where I can start to be a solution.

God gave me the heart for the lonely, lost, and forgotten years ago, but in the past month, He has renewed my heart for those who society has given up hope on. I was guilty of thinking the city of Rochester was hopeless. I've heard about the homicide rate. I've seen the challenges and behaviors the school districts are facing. I know what home life looks like for some of the children and I've been guilty of saying that that is just the city of Rochester and that is just how it is. But I stand corrected. Jesus is the Lord of that city and where Jesus is, there is always hope. No matter what the situation looks like to me or to the world, if He is there, there is redemptive and saving power. He is the God of the city and with Him, nothing is impossible.

I was driving in my car when God spoke all this to my heart and my heart was broke- not just for the city of Rochester, but because I realized I had been speaking more death into a situation in desperate need of life. As believers, we have the power of Christ in us to speak life or death into a situation and my indifference to what was going on in the city was not breathing life into the situation. It was accepting it for how it is and failing to acknowledge that the Creator of the Universe is the one in control and He is able to do miracles. I was failing to walk in the fact that God in me is the hope of glory and that if I am willing, He will use me and work through me- that through Christ in me, hope can be brought into a city I had no authority to deem hopeless. As long as Jesus is in control, there is hope.

I am humbled by the fact that God loves me enough to share this realization with me. That He entrusts this truth to me and is willing to open the eyes of my heart to the things that break His. I will choose to speak life into the brokenness of our city. I will not accept stereotypes and complacency and while I am not sure what being part of the solution looks like yet in my life, I am committed to praying for the wisdom and heart of God so that I may be used by Him to bring hope to a broken world, just like He has brought hope in my brokenness.

Week 8: Luis, 18, spends his school vacations, trekking into guerrilla territory, sharing the good news in Colombia. Pray for young evangelists.