Friday, July 9, 2010

Radicals for God

"LUKEWARM PEOPLE love God, but they do not love Him with all their hearts, soul, and strength. They would be quick to assure you that they try to love God that much, but that sort of total devotion isn't really possible for the average person; it's only for pastors and missionaries and radicals." p. 73

This actually ties in to my last post quite well, but, for today, I really want to focus on the last part of what Chan says: "... that sort of total devotion isn't really possible for the average person; it's only for pastors and missionaries and radicals." Now, my first thought after reading this went something like... "Well, if pastors and missionaries aren't radicals... as far as their love and devotion to God... then who is?" I mean think about it. These people love God so much that they devote their whole lives to God. They focus their careers on God and sharing His message. That's a pretty significant level of devotion, right? Isn't that radical? Maybe it is for those of us that, either intentionally or unintentionally, limit our devotion to Sunday morning, or a few other times scattered throughout the week. But, it still begs to question...who are the radicals?



Well, I think the radicals are those that live and breathe their faith...much like the pastors and missionaries, EXCEPT, their careers don't center around it. They also make it their life's work to share their faith, to teach people about God...they just don't get paid for it. Now, I'm sure there are numerous other examples of "radicals," but I want to focus on this one. Chan notes that "this sort of devotion really isn't possible for the average person." So, what does that mean... that it's not possible to love God as much as a missionary or pastor? Is going to Bible college a requisite for loving God to some infinite level? No! This whole characteristic of being lukewarm is just an excuse we use to live our lives the way we want to. We convince ourselves that we don't have to be as devoted in our faith because pastors and missionaries received extra "training." They have more experience. They have a direct line to God, that we don't have...so they're held to a higher standard. Well, I'm here to say that they're not...at least when it comes to their devotion and love for God. They aren't required to love Him more, to love Him better. We are all called to love Him with all of our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds.



THE PUSH
Watch the first 6 minutes of this video. It really hits home the fact that missionaries and pastors are no different than us. We all have our problems. We all have our flaws. We ALL are called to love God the same way... with everything we are.



No comments:

Post a Comment