February 16,  2015


Welcome, beloved readers! 

"The Christian life is not about how many times you attend church in a week, nor how many hours you spend in prayer and Bible study. Even though it may include those things, the Christian life is about personal intimacy. It's about developing a continual and constant dependency on the sufficiency of Christ. It's about abandonment and surrender to the supremacy of Christ in all things. It's giving God permission to lead, guide, and develop every aspect of your life."- Larry Bennett 

 
 
Please join me in welcoming IFEL writer, Larry Bennett, as he discusses "Radical Christianity."  
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Kathy Hill

Managing editor

Exchanging Life Publishing


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KEY SCRIPTURE

No other gods

 

"You shall have no other gods before Me" (Exodus 20:3, NKJV).


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RADICAL CHRISTIANITY  
by Larry Bennett, contributing writer

"Thus says the LORD, 'Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens although the nations are terrified by them; For the customs of the peoples are delusion; Because it is wood cut from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They decorate it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers so that it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, and they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot walk!'" (Jeremiah 10:2-5).

 

The above verses are an account of the Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah, telling Israel to turn from the false wooden and stone idols and return to Jehovah, the only true God.

 

When I read the accounts of the Israelites' constant turning from the one true God and worshiping wooden and stone idols, my first response is "what's wrong with these people?" Have they forgotten their rich history of God's faithfulness? Have they erased the memory of His multiple, miraculous deliverance? How could they snub God for a wooden or stone idol?

 

However, when I think of our present-day society, aren't we guilty of a similar thing? No, we may not be erecting wooden and stone idols, but we are guilty of turning to other things that become our gods. Our hobbies, possessions, or even our recreation can replace our affection and devotion to the supremacy of Christ in our lives.

 

The Christian life is not about how many times you attend church in a week, nor how many hours you spend in prayer and Bible study. Even though it may include those things, the Christian life is about personal intimacy. It's about developing a continual and constant dependency on the sufficiency of Christ. It's about abandonment and surrender to the supremacy of Christ in all things. It's giving God permission to lead, guide, and develop every aspect of your life.

 

Total surrender is not giving God 10% of your money, time, and talents; it's giving Him 100% control of all you have and all that you are. It's yielding everything to the Holy Spirit's control. It's metaphorically laying every aspect of your life at Jesus' feet and acknowledging that all you are, all you have, and all you will ever be is vested in Him.

 

You see, God's point in our utter abandonment is for us to acknowledge that we are created for a purpose. We are not just a biological happenstance created to wander about on the earth. As committed followers of Christ, we become "His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:10). We really do figure into God's grand scheme of things. We are created for this moment in history, to be a demonstration of what God is like to your world.


The Bottom Line

You may be thinking, "This is radical stuff." Yep, you are correct; this is radical Christianity, designed by God to impact our cultural for eternity. Anything less could be a form of idolatry. Will you take the challenge to lay your life at Jesus feet, to be a radical follower of Christ, and to change your world for eternity?

 

"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

-Jim Elliot, martyred missionary1

 

  

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Larry Bennett (Georgia, USA) is a contributing writer for IOM America - Transformational Biblical Worldview &

Exchange Life Development.

  

Permission obtained from writer to republish Radical Christianity. Originally published on blog, Wednesday Devotional (Presenting Christ as Life)on Oct. 14, 2014 at http://wednesdaydevotional.com/2014/10/15/radical-christianty/

IOM America's editorial changes to original approved by author.

 

1Jim Elliot Quote. Billy Graham Center Archives http://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/faq/20htm 

 

All Scriptures, unless otherwise stated, are taken from the New  King James Version. Copyright� 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.  All rights reserved. 
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