Radical Has to be The New Normal

There are people all around us who are struggling, hurting physically, emotionally, and spiritually starving for answers, and we don't need to look farther than across the street, in the grocery line, a school hallway, or cubicle at work to find them.

AnnVoskamp, author of the life-changing book, One Thousand Gifts, reminds us of all we've been given as one being born in America in her blog, A Holy Experience. For those of us who've seen such disparity in other parts of our world it's often difficult to understand why a good and holy God allows it.

Having been to Africa and seen the poorest of the poor humbles a person, and seeing such suffering in unspeakable conditions wrenches the heart, yet I was consistently astounded by the visible hope and joy in Jesus these beautiful children and women exhibited each day. Hope and joy in nothing but Jesus, and in that, having everything.

Author and activist, Shane Claiborne, said it well when he wrote:

Over and over, when I ask God how all these injustices are allowed to exist in the world, I feel His Spirit whisper to me, 'You tell me why we allow this to happen. You are my body, my hands, my feet.

God entrusted us, His church, to do His work here on earth - to be the hands and feet of Jesus in a world filled with empty, and He commands us in Matthew 28:16-20 to go out and make disciples of all peoples, baptizing them in His name.

Reading Ann Voskamp's words written while sharing Jesus in Africa's slums reminded me of what we're to be about during our very short time on this earth:

You've got to use the life you've been given to give others life.  If your life isn't about giving relief - you don't get real life.

("What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?"  Mark 8:36 (NIV))

You have got to use your position inside the gate for those outside the gate - or you're in the position of loosing everything.  There are a thousand ways to be the living dead.  If you have food in your fridge, any clothes in your closet, any small roof , rented or owned, over your head, you are richer than 75% of the rest of the world.
We are the Esthers living inside the palace. If you have anything saved in the bank, any bills in your wallet, any spare change in a jar, you are one of the top 8% wealthiest people in the world. We are the Esthers living inside the gate.  If you can read these words right now, you have a gift 3 billion people right now don't, if your stomach isn't twisted in hunger pangs, you have a gift that 1 billion people right now don't, if you know Christ, you have a gift that untold millions right now don't. WE ARE THE ONES LIVING INSIDE THE GATE.  It's like you can hear the cry of the red soil of Africa's pulsing right here with the heart of God: YOU HAVE GOT TO USE YOUR POSITION INSIDE THE GATE
FOR THOSE OUTSIDE THE GATE - OR YOU"RE IN THE POSITION OF LOOSING EVERYTHING -OF LOOSING YOUR SOUL.
You are where you are for such a time as this - not to gain anything - but to risk everything.  You are where you are for such a time as this- not to make an impression - but to make a difference.

You could have been the one outside the gate. You could have been the one with the Lord's resistance Army slitting your child's throat in the middle of the night, you could have been the one born into a slum, rapes without hope, you could have been the one born into AIDS, into starvation, into l;ives of wild Christ-less desperation.  The reason you are inside the gate for such a time as this - is to risk your life for those outside the gate.  If I perish, I perish.  

Radical has to be the Christian's new normal, that radical isn't radical but the regular to the disciple of Christ, and what if we're all fooling ourselves with the American Dream instead of waking up to the Christian Reality and His Kingdom Come?

God forgive.

God forgive all the lukewarm blood.

Lately, God has been impressing upon my heart and mind what I'm to be about in the right here and now time of my life.  Our time here is so very short - a dash.

I don't want to waste the dash I've been given.  I want to live a life that pleases God in every stage of existence - to be used for His purpose.

People all around us are hurting, struggling, starving physically and spiritually in a decaying world.

God asks, "Where is my church?"

Please God, convict our hearts to be about doing the desires of yours, wherever and whatever that looks like in such a time as this.


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my life ETERNITY ....ETERNITY ....ETERNITY ....ETERNITY .... ETERNITY .... ETERNITY...

What will you do with your dash?