So this Thursday, as a team, we started a book study on the book “Radical” by David Platt. We’re only on week two, and I’m only two chapters in, but I decided to take some time to write what I’ve already been convicted about. In the first two chapters alone, the author talks about his experiences in an underground church in Asia. The people in that church were so hungry for God’s word, and so in love with Christ, that they risked their LIFE to learn more about the Bible. They were all farmers, and left their fields for weeks, just to attend a daily bible study, because they were SO hungry for the word. How often have you done that? How many people would say they would even be willing to do that? Sure, you could argue the fact that we live in a country where we have the blessing to have religious freedom, but how often do we take that for granted? We roll up to church in millions of dollars worth of vehicles, while these men in Asia ride their bikes for HOURS to go to their meeting place. Something doesn’t seem right about that….
Another thing the book talks about the money we put into the seemingly significant things, but don’t give even a fraction of that money to truly significant things. He used the example of a newspaper article he had read at one point. The first article, which had front page coverage, and praised a church who had just finished a 25 MILLION dollar addition to their church. The second, much smaller article talked about a church similar in size, that raised $5,000 for people starving in Africa. Correct me if I’m wrong, but again, something doesn’t seem right. It doesn’t sit right with me. We are more worried bring more and more people to OUR church, so we pour millions into expansion, but what about those people DYING in Africa? How much money, as a church, do we waste on insignificant things? We have state of the art sound systems, lighting systems, projectors, electric instruments…. How much does all of that cost? Why are we so willing to spend so much money on all of that, but when it comes to sending money to help people starving, we send a fraction of what we spend on ourselves.
I don’t know, something about all of that just doesn’t seem right. I think the church as a whole needs to step back, and examine what exactly we are doing. I would challenge those of you who are reading this to read Radical. I would challenge you to go through the gospels, and see how Christ told us to follow Him. I know this book has challenged me to do this, and I don’t like what I’ve found. Things need to change, and fast. Maybe you’ll have the same conviction as myself while reading this book, maybe you have others, but it’s a must read, soon.
