My heart may be more inclined to these kinds of books, or this could be the latest trend in the Christian world, but recently I've come across several voices speaking out to call Christian believers to a more radical faith.
Francis Chan in Crazy Love holds nothing back when he challenges readers to love God in ridiculous ways by making hard choices to live out the words we say about being a Christ follower.
Do Hard Things by two teenagers challenge their peers (and adults!) to not settle into a comfortable American life but to stretch ourselves to make sacrifices for others.
On my list to read in this vein is The Christian Atheist and now Radical. These books too are meant to be a wake-up call to American Christianity to actually look at how Jesus lived and then to follow His example.
That might mean giving away more money than a 10% tithe. It could look like becoming friends with people very different than us. They challenge us to let go of some of the defining traits of being American like consumerism, living the American dream, and safety.
In a different life stage, these kinds of challenges would have pushed me into a different life path. I might have followed my inquiries into living in Siberia. Living in an inner city Chicago house could have appealed to me more than it did.
But I'm not in that stage to leave and when I say that it sounds like just another excuse leading to my great frustration. It's a tension between desire to do these hard things but being so entrenched in the circumstances of my life that I don't see the way to follow what these writers - ultimately the voice of Jesus call me to do.
I'm part of a blogging for books preview team for Waterbrook which gave me access to the first chapter of Radical. You can also read that first chapter here and then request a free booklet which is an even longer summary of the book here.
I don't have the answers, just have been reminded again of the challenge. I'm looking for ideas. Any others out there living out radical Christianity in their American world?
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