What is radical?
Radical is graduating college, but then skipping out on the “real world” and going on an eleven month mission’s trip around the world. Radical is giving all your money to the poor. Radical is going and doing crazy awesome things and not settling for a 9 to 5 job like everyone else. Radical is dropping everything on a whim and going somewhere just because. Radical is moving to a third world country and adopting every orphan you can find. These things are deemed as radical, am I right?
My lovely “D” squad and I at training camp a couple months before we radically altered our lives by going on the race in 2012
Chances are, most of you reading this completely agree with the above statement. You have probably decided to live your life radically on fire for Jesus. You went on the race, you are currently living in another country, or you are a full-time missionary.
I would agree. All of those things listed above, plus many more, are RADICAL. I am with you on that. I left everything with complete reckless abandon and gave Him my life in a crazy and extreme way for eleven months. I lived out of a backpack and slept on dirt floors, airport floors, and in hostel beds. I went to four different continents and did things that I never thought I would do. It was and is radical. It completely changed my life and I believe everyone should step out in a crazy way for Him at some point in life.
(Me in Kenya the second time around giving out my digits. This trip came about by radically trusting in the Lord’s promise and by faithfully waiting on Him to make it happen. I had to radically SIT and trust Him without making it come about by my own actions. Sitting and trusting in that way was new for me).
Currently, I am in San Ramon, California doing an internship at East Bay Prayer Furnace. Have you heard of IHOP or the International House of Prayer in Kansas City? It is a branch of that. I will be here for two months. Essentially, I sit in a room and pray for roughly six hours a day. I just completed my first week. I arrive at the prayer room at eight am, stay until 12pm, have class for an hour or so, and then sit for two more hours until 4pm.
Ever since I have been here (a measly four days), God has been realigning my heart with His on a lot of things. As I sit and watch moms, wives, fathers, janitors, and every other ordinary person come through the prayer room, I can’t help but to question what is deemed as “radical” in the Lord’s eyes. I see these men, women, and children intercede for others with shouts, groans, and tears. I see them brief and debrief worship sessions when there is no one else in the room listening. I see them pray for the country of Oman without having any connection to it whatsoever. Showing up and carrying burdens and prayers to the cross for people and nations seems pretty radical to me.
After being in the prayer room for a few days, God has enlightened my eyes with understanding. He has been revealing the hearts of these people, and reminding me that “what” we do is not as important as the “why.” In this day and age, living radically for Him looks like faithful obedience. It looks like showing up every day with a burning heart to what He has in front of you. If you are a stay at home mom nurturing those He has blessed you with, keep living radically for Him. If you are traveling the world and leading burns across the globe, well done faithful servant, keep being radical. If you have a part-time job and fight to get prayer in secretly throughout the day, amen. He is moved by your radicalness. If you have a 9 to 5 job or something along those lines, and He has called you there, your daily routine is seen as precious and radical to Him.
The truth He has been hitting me with is that He doesn’t judge our devotion to Him according to our own worldly standards. He sees our heart. He judges according to our heart. Now, if you are traveling and preaching, but neglecting your family and not allowing Him to sink into the depths of you, maybe you should find a resting place to dwell, so He can dwell deeper inside you. Maybe you have been resting and being faithful for years and now He has been beckoning you to a new season. All He asks for is obedience that is powered by deep love and affection.
May we all see with His eyes and be enlightened with an understanding of what moves His heart. May we be willing to step up into a radical obedience that will shift our reality. May we no longer settle for sitting, or sprinting, whichever one we are bent towards. May we be so in love that we obey His voice and His call in every area of our lives. When that occurs, that is when we will be seen as radical lovers in His eyes.
What is radical to you? What needs to shift in order for you to be seen as radical in His eyes? What is He calling you to right now? What is preventing you from faithfully serving Him with a joyful heart?
