But oh man, God has been doing some awesome things in my life!!
Not the point of this post though. I wanna share a little something with you all.
For the last couple days, I've been reading this book called Radical by David Platt. THIS BOOK IS INCREDIBLE!! It's been one of those books that is like the Bible kinda: you read a bit and you have to really soak in what you just read.
There is a section in here I wanna share with you all that really stuck out to me. Read this:
If you were to ask the average Christian sitting in a worship service on Sunday morning to summarize the message of Christianity, you would most likely hear something along the lines of "The message of Christianity is that God loves me enough to send his Son, Jesus, to die for me."
As wonderful as the sendiment sounds, is it biblical? Isn't it incomplete, based on what we have seen in the Bible? "God loves me" is not the essence of biblical Christianity. Because if "God loves me" is the message of Christianity, then who is the object of Christianity?
God loves me.
Me.
Christianity's object is me.
Therefore, when I look at a church, I look for the music that best fits me and the programs that best cater to me and my family. When I make plans for my life and career, it is about what works for me and my family.When I consider the house I will live in, the car I will drive, the clothes I will wear, the way I will live, I will choose according to what is best for me. This is the version of Christianity that largely prevails in our culture.
But it is not biblical Christianity.
The message of biblical Christianity is not "God loves me period," as if we were the objects of our own faith.The message of biblical Christianity is "God loves me so that I might make him - his ways, his salvation, his glory, and his greatness - known among all nations." Now God is the object of our faith, and Christianity centers around him. We are not the end of the gospel; God is.
OK, If I could just write down the whole entire book for you, ugh, that'd be awesome because it is such an amazing book. But... you'll just have to read it for yourselves.
I thought I would share this with you all because lately I have been dealing with an evil demon called Selfishness. We usually encounter this thing quite often in our lives.
What Platt is trying to say is so true, and what I love is that he is not beating around the bush on this subject at all; we are literally selfish about a lot of things, including how we want our "perfect" Sunday service. We want the right music, we want the sermons to be what we wanna hear. Even in our daily lives we do this. We're make decisions based on what we want. What about what God wants? I know I don't think of these things when I'm making some life decisions. Sure, it may seem all cool and well, but is it what God wants me to do? Is it glorifying God in any way? Probably not.
Sounds a little selfish in my opinion.
But anyways, I just wanted to share what was on my mind. I wanna know what you think about this. Leave a commentary on my comments! =)
Peace.Love.Happiness.Smiles.
SammyJane
Note: Exerpt from Radical, Platt, David, Multnomah Books, 2010, pages 70-71
