There’s been such a buzz about David Platt’s book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. I bought it for my husband for Christmas (one of those partly self-centered gifts, you know?). But, I’ve yet to read it. When I was given the opportunity to review Radical Together, David Platt’s new book taking the principles of Radical and applying them to communities of faith, I had to take it.

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.]

Psalm 25:8 – to me, this is the good news. “Good and upright is the Lord, therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.” He doesn’t instruct the righteous, the religious bureaucrats, the spiritual suburbanites in their well kept neighborhoods with white picket fences. He instructs the sinners. This is grace. Afterall, what would be good about the good news if God was simply a righteous judge who rewarded good and punished evil? It’s good news. “Through no merit of our own, but by His mercy, we have been restored to a right relationship with God through the life, death, and resurrection of His beloved Son” (Manning, p. 20-21).

As someone who has known the Lord since childhood, I fully recognize that I often need a bit of the Gospel 101. I can read the newest books, the Christian bestsellers. And, I like doing that. But, sometimes…sometimes you just need a refresher course to be reminded of what amazed you about the gospel early on and what can still amaze you.

Grace. Furious love. Forgiveness. Wonder.

Brennan Manning’s The Ragamuffin Gospel is like that for me. It isn’t new. And, the content in it isn’t new. In fact, it’s a couple thousand years old. But, it’s not old in the “been there done that” sorta way—despite illustrations that are dated (e.g., Woody Allen films and the Cosby show…classics but dated…and lots of little stories sprinkled throughout that remind me of ones an old school pastor might use). Reading it during this season of my life, I’ve had to remind myself to put down my pen and stop underlining. If you underline whole sections, it negates the point, doesn’t it? And, it makes for a messy page.

The book itself is not the end all. But, the story of Jesus is. Want to be reminded of it?

[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.]

I love children’s books. And, I love research and editing. So, I’m excited about combining the two by doing some book reviews for you all. And, I got a winner for the first one I’m posting on my blog.

I love this series. I have bought them for our kids. I have bought them as gifts. All the books are beautifully illustrated and sweetly written. And, more importantly, they open up doors to having rich conversations with your kids.

This particular book, God Gave Us So Much: A Limited-Edition Three-Book Treasury, is a unique one in that it is 3 of the books in one, complete with a satin ribbon bookmarker so that you can read one to your child and then place the ribbon to mark your spot for the next story the next night.

God Gave Us Love and God Gave Us Heaven, included in this treasury, are wonderful. Love the questions they lead my kids to ask me and the opportunities I then have to share Truth with a capital “T” with them afterwards. God Gave us the World, the one I was most looking forward to, was a little disappointing. When I saw the cover page of all the various bears from around the world, I had high hopes (especially at the sight of the panda since I have a Chinese daughter). But, I was disappointed to find that the polar bears are roaming around having their conversation but all the other bears they are observing and talking about are in fenced in areas at a bear museum. You don’t get to see them with their families. Seemed a bit strange to me. And, I wasn’t too thrilled about it though my kids seemed to enjoy it just the same.

Overall, this book is a worthy purchase — one you won’t regret. It’s a keeper. It’s one I’ll be holding onto even when my kids are texting their friends and driving themselves around town (they are way far from that stage now…or so I think).

[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.]