Quite Radical: Worth Losing Everything

This is post is based on David Platt's revolutionary book "Radical." Credit to Pr. David Platt for the quotes in this blog, various points that I have taken from him, and the inspiration behind everything else. This blog post covers chapter one, "Someone Worth Losing Everything For."

Stop following Jesus.

Oh, don't worry--not THAT Jesus. Not the one that holds the little sweet lambs. Not the one that stands smiling in the back of the Thomas Kinkade painting on your wall. Not the one that just wants you to have your "best life now."

No. We're talking about the real Jesus.
And you should stop following him unless you're serious about it.

Why? Because the real Jesus is the one that tells you to "pick up your cross and follow." The real Jesus tells you to "Let the dead bury their own dead and come follow." The real Jesus isn't particularly interested in coming up with the best gimmicks to get you to stick around with him. Author David Platt put it this way:

"Jesus apparently wasn't interested in marketing himself to the masses. His invitations to potential followers were clearly more costly than the crowds were ready to accept, and he seemed to be okay with that."

Platt goes on to discuss Jesus' illustration of the man who sells everything to buy a field--a field that the man knows has an invaluable treasure buried in it. To everyone else, he looks like an idiot. But because he knows what is there in that field, he is the wisest man on earth.

It's a challenge--but it's more than just a challenge to think about and then move on. Platt reminds us to "not just ask 'What is he [Jesus] saying?' but also ask 'What shall I do?" Everything Jesus calls us to do is important...and we cannot re-define it to suit ourselves better (as Platt explains elsewhere).

Not everything Jesus commands us to do is comfortable. Personally, I would rather stay here in America and be comfortable, than to take my future family into a place that makes me uncomfortable. I'd rather steer away from any place that I think may pose a danger to them, or that may make me squirm. That's not easy.

But if God has called us to a place, we better go. That applies whether it is to stay here in America or to leave this nation and go elsewhere. Even somewhere uncomfortable.

Not everything Jesus commands us to do is comfortable. But it is worth it to follow Jesus.

He is "worth losing everything for."