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Book Review: Radical
David Platt is currently the head pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, AL, and he became known as the youngest mega church pastor in America. Radical reached #5 on the New York Times Bestseller list.
In Radical, Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream, Platt challenges us to take a look at our lives and to forsake everything for the gospel. He challenges the reader to consider with an open heart how believers have manipulated a God-centered gospel to fit our human-centered preferences. With passionate storytelling and convicting biblical analyses, Platt calls into question a host of comfortable notions that are common among Christ's followers today. Then he proposes a radical response: live the gospel in ways that are true, filled with promise and ultimately world changing.
Jesus said His followers would leave behind security, money, convenience and even family for Him. They would abandon everything for the gospel. They would take up their crosses daily. But, who do you know who actually lives like that? Do You? What part of the gospel is optional? None. The Christian life is more than having a nice life, it is about proclaiming God. The Christian spin on the American Dream makes good Americans, but it makes bad Christians.
Giving everything to God is more than our giving away our possessions or tithing 10%. It is about giving all we have. Jesus says that you can’t call yourself a proclaimer of His if you aren’t willing to give up everything.
Do we want comfort or a cross? We try to soften Jesus’ words to justify the way we live. The reality is more Christians in today live in daily fear of persecution for their faith than not. More Christians in history lived in fear of persecution than not. The Christian faith is about a radical departure from the world and an embracing of Christ at all costs.
I started this book assuming it was another watered down, Christian-light, feel good book. I walked away seeing Platt’s challenge to his readers as a call to true Christianity.
