What am I living for?

So I got a Kindle. Actually, I've had it for about a month and a half now, and I'm praying that it will be a tool that God uses in my life to further shape me for His service. I have to say that after using this thing for about six weeks now, I can't believe that I went so long without it. There's something about buying a volume of Spurgeon's sermons that take up basically no space for 99 cents that will put a spring in just about anybody's step. But that's just one of the many advantages along with having multiple English Bible Versions, my Greek text, a couple of lexicons (kind of weak lexicons, but better than nothing --if you know of any good Kindle lexicons, let me know), a few of my Seminary textbooks, multiple sermon volumes, and a library of books that is growing faster than it should be ($$) in one incredibly small, easily accessible place. I take my Kindle everywhere except to church. My wife won't let me. One of the first books that I read on Kindle was David Platt's Radical: Taking back your faith from the American Dream. I've been meaning to put some thoughts about this book into writing, so here is my feeble attempt to highlight five items that particularly impacted me. Please don't consider this list exhaustive. I'm almost certain that there's a life-altering quote on every page (at least every-other).

1. My name is Chad Phelps, I am 22 years old, and I am captivated by the American Dream. I am. I don't want to be, I don't want to admit it, I hate the way that it looks when I write it, but I am. I have succeeded in molding Jesus into who I want Him to be, and in this way I have redefined a gospel that is less about radical self-abandonment to Christ, and more about what I can get out of this Christian experience. But that's not the gospel; at least not the gospel that Christ preached. As Platt put it, I need to believe that "Jesus is so good, so satisfying, and so rewarding that we will leave all we have and all we own and all we are in order to find our fullness in Him." Let that sink in.

2. Social action is not the gospel, but it is ridiculously naive and calloused for Christians to believe that Christ doesn't care about how we treat the poor. The gospels pay particular attention to the poor. Christ healed them, He gave to them, and He confronted them with the gospel. Am I turning a blind eye to my responsibility to them?

3. Without Christ, I am inept. Platt points out that "In direct contradiction to the American dream, God actually delights in exalting our inability." The American dream emphasizes our culture, our abilities, our mental faculties, our sparkling buildings, our programs, and our monetary assets. Point after point drives home this fact in convicting fashion. A Facebook friend of mine referred to this book as "devastating." He was right. The gospel of Christ emphasizes His lordship and my inability apart from His grace.

4. A large portion of the church today ignores Christ's commands. Why is it so easy to hear Him say, "Take my yoke upon you," and yet so hard to hear Him say, "Go, sell all that you have?" How come we cling to the "Ask anything in my name" promise, and ignore the "Go ye into all the world" command? The answer is simple; because we have not become radically surrendered to Christ. We trust Him, but only so far. We love Him, but only so much. We would never admit it, it stinks to hear it, but it's true. Most of the church today has never even considered sharing the gospel abroad. It's not even that we're not open to God's commands. We just blatantly ignore them. When God says "Go into all the world," why does that not apply to you? You don't have an answer? That's because it does.

5. I have never been so open to missions in my life.