When I read “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream” by David Platt, I felt as though I had been pierced to the heart. Having grown up in the “American church culture”, I struggled with many of the things Yahshua (Jesus) had said about material possessions. To me, material possessions were an outward indicator of Yahweh’s blessing in a person’s life.
A month before I picked up this book, I had a compelling inner drive to dramatically reduce the possessions in my home. I took two weeks off from homeschool during the holidays and spent ten days attacking my home, one room at a time. It was mentally and physically exhausting, but there was a strange sense of freedom that was stirred up in me as I got rid of stuff. Even my children were assigned the task of “purging” their own rooms.
Many lessons were learned from this experience. But I knew that Yahweh still wanted to communicate something to me. A friend urged me to read this book, so after my house-purge, I opened the book and began reading.
For the first time, I began to look honestly at the things Yahshua said to those who wanted to follow Him:
… Sell all you have, give it to the poor, and THEN come and follow Me.
… Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me.
… What you did for the least of these my brothers, you did unto Me.
… A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.
As I read this book, my view of stuff began to change. I realized that I had been blessed SO THAT I could be a blessing. SO THAT I could feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, pray for the sick, cast out demons, and preach the gospel.
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