Sammy loves to fly. His trust is complete and he knows that his mom and dad will not drop him. As he soars up into the air he allows himself a hovering moment of pure life. Why? Because his trust is radical and he has laid everything in loving hands. George Macdonald said,
“To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.”
If you’ve ever had your trust broken, you know how true that is. Yet trust remains a vital part of the act of living. No one can achieve the joy of life without the risk of trust. Yet once you let down your walls, once you open the dusty doorway to forgotten trust and clear away the cobwebs of hurt, then things can get radical.
We were, as humans, all entrusted with a great amount of life, potential, and purpose. We broke and continue to break that trust with God. Yet God provided a radical way to restore that trust.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The incarnation shows how radical God was willing to be to reach out to us, but he requires and equally radical response.
When you compare the roughly 82% of well over 200 million Americans claiming the Christian faith and the epidemics of divorce, abused sexuality, rampant drug use, and fundamental misunderstandings of love and the family you discover that, as Christians, we Americans have missed the radical life. As I see it there are three categories of Christians; the Committed Christian, the Professing Believer, and the Radically Redeemed.
Committed Christian
The Committed Christian is a very pious and dedicated soul. Constantly serving and participating in religious exercise, the Committed Christian appears the model church going Christian. In fact, most are. These are generally good people very dedicated to their religious practice. Yet as committed as they may be and as hard as they may work many seem to be missing the pure life and infectious joy of the Christian life. This can be seen in the vast number of good Churches and the incredibly small number of growing Churches. They just don’t seem very radical.
Professing Believers
We’ve all seen this group. This is the person who has a loose claim on Christianity yet cares little to display and sign of faith. It is the Professing Believer that does the most damage to the Christian name. You see, as they claim the faith and fail to truly believe or trust in it, they many astray by profaning the name of Christ with their life styles. We often call them hypocrites, though at times we may all fit that moniker. The only thing radical in this persons life is their commitment to themselves.
Radically Redeemed
Finally we get to those often considered strange, naive, or too extreme by their Committed brothers and sisters. These are the people that bring strung out drug addicts with the smell of alcohol hanging like a deep funk to Church with them, not by words or promise of help, but by the blazing purity of their living. These are the people that dream of Churches without walls, nations burning as one with the fire of God, and mountains moving at a word. These are the people that weep at the pain of prostitutes, sacrifice their dinner money for the hungry, and give of their over laden schedule to be a family to the lonely. These are those so radical in their love, purity, and passion that they make us feel uncomfortable just by being around. We are not the only ones to be uncomfortable around the radical;
3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Talk about radical and you must reference Jesus as the ultimate example, and no one for over two thousand years has made people more uncomfortable. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and Committed man of faith. He came to Jesus in the night, uncomfortable to be seen with him during the day, and he greeted him with a profession of belief. Jesus immediately responded with a call to be radical. The idea of being born again, made completely new, was so foreign to the Committed Pharisee that he was truly dumfounded and missed the entire point.
We, however, are in no place to judge Nicodemus for we to often completely miss the point. In the midst of godly house work, we miss the Master pointing us to the Harvest. In the pursuit of dedicated practice and religious improvement we abandon our first love for a task list. Rather than a life characterized by blazing purity of joy, we live subjugated by the burden of religion. We have been called to a radical transformation.
A candle can not work itself aflame it must be set on fire. A city on a hill is not seen for it’s buildings, but for the lights that must be turned on. We can not work ourselves into radical redemption, we must be redeemed, so why do we persist in believe that the existence of one so freely redeemed must be working to keep it? How can we be so confused that rather than loving the redeemer, we set work in His rightful spotlight?
“I thought we showed our faith through works!” Indeed James does tell us that we show our faith with our works. Our radical and complete trust and focus on our redeemer is shown in the overflow of our activity. Our actions do not define our faith, they pour out from it as examples of a definition that should be plainly seen in our living. Paul says,
12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
We are to live completely laid out in the loving hands of God. Floating in the air of complete trust knowing our entire fate and livelihood is in the hands waiting to catch us. Only in the release that comes with finally believing that our Father will not drop us, can we enjoy that hovering moment of pure joy. Radically Redeemed? In a world where 9 out of 10 quotes on trust is an admonition not to, this type of living is radical indeed. Yet it is not without reward. Those who lived Radically Redeemed were said to have turned the world upside down, proclaimed joy in their suffering, and looked forward with peace and passion to their final home coming. They LIVED and then went on to Life.
So then the question remains, which are you? Committed Christian, Professing Believer, or Radically Redeemed?
I know in my heart this was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Thank you for your "radical" faith, and making yourself available for His use. I love you, son.
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