There’s been such a buzz about David Platt’s book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream
So, I started reading ready to find out what I could do to live more radically for God, what I could do to engage my church to live radically for God. And, I was pretty excited about it.
Having just finished the book, this is the part that stuck with me the most –
Almighty God, just because He is almighty, needs no support. . . .So lofty is our opinion of ourselves that we find it quite easy, not to say enjoyable, to believe that we are necessary to God. . . .
Probably the hardest thought of all for our natural egotism to entertain is that God does not need our help. We commonly represent Him as a busy, eager, somewhat frustrated Father hurrying about seeking help to carry out His benevolent plan to bring peace and salvation to the world. . . .
Too many missionary appeals are based upon this fancied frustration of Almighty God. An effective speaker can easily excite pity in his hearers, not only for the heathen but for the God who has tried so hard and so long to save them and has failed for want of support. I fear that thousands of younger persons enter Christian service from no higher motive than to help deliver God from the embarrassing situation His love has gotten Him into and His limited abilities seem unable to get Him out of. Add to this a certain degree of commendable idealism and a fair amount of compassion for the underprivileged and you have the true drive behind much Christian activity today. (A. W. Tozer, as cited in Platt, 2011, p. 121-122)
God does not need me. He doesn’t need my church. He doesn’t need our conferences, our programs, our nonprofits, our orphan summits, our fundraising campaigns. As Platt (2011) put it, “All the structures we have constructed and all the stuff we have created could turn to dust, and God could still make a great name for himself among the nations” (p. 122).
As I set out to learn what I could do radically to be more a part of God’s work around the world, I was left instead with this – “God does not involve us in his grand, global purpose because he needs us. He involves us in his grand, global purpose because he loves us” (p. 122-123).
And, I am humbled. It’s really not about what I do, how much I do, if I do it well, etc. It’s simply about following Him, living for Him everyday, and looking to see what He’s already doing that I can jump in on simply because He loves me and wants me to have the privilege, pleasure, and blessing of joining Him in His work.
As I recognize my own inadequacy, my sinfulness, my laziness, my failures, I am encouraged that my ability to be a part of something significant for His glory doesn’t depend on me at all. Platt shared a prayer he lifts up that he learned from the faithful missionary David Brainerd: “Lord, let me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I am” (Platt, 2011, p. 43).
I’m claiming this prayer now and praying that I can see where God is doing something radical and inviting me to come join Him in that, despite my frailty, just because He loves me. May He move in me to go beyond myself (in fact, die to myself) and move toward Him so that when I fail, I’m failing forward, failing with Him rather than failing without Him. And, I’m praying that He will let me make a difference, a difference utterly disproportionate to who I am.
Now, I think I’m ready to read the first book.
[I received this book free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing for this review. I was under no obligation to write a positive review. These opinions are my own.]
