You want a radical life? A big life? A life that does great things? Then do it. Well duh! That's what you've been hearing lately right? Go and do great things. Sell all you have and follow Jesus. Go to a foreign country. Live that life that God has for you.
Do you know how frustrating that is for a kid in their 20's to hear day in and day out? Well, maybe it's just as frustrating if you're 34, 37, 42, 46, 57, 68, 72...but if you haven't experienced the frustration because you are living "that" life or you are content where you are serving Jesus where you are let me just tell you, it's more frustrating than being on a diet at a Christmas party and not being able to eat the scrumptious looking carrot cake smothered in cream cheese icing that is sitting on the table right in front of your face. Don't the "old guys" who keep preaching this at us understand that that is the life most of desire to live? Don't they get that we want to follow Jesus? I can't wrap my head around if they do or not because somebody needs to start preaching the depths of that message -- the how, the when, the why -- before all of us go crazy. Or, maybe they have and up until this point, I for one, have chosen to be deaf to it or just haven't open my heart to the reality of it. But, let me tell you what I have discovered lately...
a radical life isn't a big name or lots of fame or the winner of the "game"...it's simply bringing the Lord glory right. where. you. are.
There I said it. I'm sorry if I bursted your bubble, but this life isn't about your fame, name, glory, kingdom, life, happiness, or whatever else you want to put in the blank. And that is where a radical life starts -- knowing that, believing that, cleaning out your heart so you are no longer at the bottom of your life. How can you live a radical life for someone that you don't even know? How can you serve the Lord in a far off land or by selling all you have if you can't trust Him right now? I find it hard to believe that you can really, honestly, and truly do that. It would be like trying to serve the President of the United States without knowing the first thing about him. What if he likes his pillow cases on his bed inside out instead of outside in, or the cups flipped right side up in the cupboard instead of upside down, or his pens on the left side of his desk instead of the right because he's left handed, or what if he hates pizza and you make it for dinner? Do you catch my drift? Everything is going to mixed up and backwards and he will not be pleased if you don't get to know him before you begin to serve him. The same goes for Jesus. You cannot adequately, to the best of your ability, serve Him if you do not know His grace, understand His love to the capacity that we can, or trust Him with your life...loosening your grip so it becomes tight in the hand of the Father. You can't preach those things if you don't know what they are like.
You want a radical life? The change has to be first in your heart. You've got to get to know Jesus. You have got to seek the heart of the Lord. You have got to open the word of the Lord for more than a split second to jump start your day. Five or six months ago I started getting up at 5:30 and showering and then crawling back in to bed before the rest of the world was awake and opening my bible and seeking the Lord. So far I have been through Acts, Ephesians, Ezra, and now I'm on 1 and 2 Timothy...it has changed my life. I haven't the slightest clue where my life is going. I don't know where I'm going to end up, but through this process the Lord has dug out the desires of my heart and got me all the way down to the heart of my desire...that root that all else stems from and you know what? It has been radical. My life is changed. God is all over it. He hasn't come down and said "Hey, go do this." But, that doesn't mean some day He isn't going to call me to something; however, for right now, it's a daily process of uncovering what that calling is. The more I seek Him the more He reveals to me. That's how I think a radical life works. It's all about seeking the Lord right where you are daily and bringing Him glory. You talk about a leap of faith. That one is huge. Try it. See for yourself what the Lord will do when you live by the grace which you are saved. " Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him," Colossians 2:6
On His adventure,
Laurlee <3
