Radical obedience.
Radical faith.
Radical surrender.
Radical forgiveness.
Radical love.
Have you heard any of these phrases before?
How did they make you feel?
Here’s the truth, and it might be a hard truth to hear, but it’s the truth, nonetheless.
There is no such thing as radical obedience, radical faith, radical surrender, radical love, or radical forgiveness in the Church.
If you are a believer in and follower of Christ there is only obedience, faith, surrender, and forgiveness.
From the vantage point of the world, the vantage point of the sinner separated from God these things may indeed seem “radical” but to the born-again child of the Most High God, they are the standards by which we all live our lives.
Adding the word radical to these pillars of the Christian life makes them seem unattainable while giving us an excuse for our lack in one or all of these areas. They open the door for comparison, envy, and jealousy.
The Christian must obey[1] the Word and the Spirit, in small things and large. If Christ is our Lord, obedience is the only acceptable response to His leadership.
The Christian is forgiven so they must forgive[2], no matter how heinous the sin seems to be in our eyes. Christ died and forgave that sin as much as all others, therefore, since we were crucified with Christ[3], we too must forgive just as He forgave us.
The Christian must live by faith[4], it is the only way to live, move, and have our being in Christ[5], for it is only by faith that we please God, and anything not of faith is sin[6].
The same is true of love. There is no radical love for the Christian. We are given this new commandment by Christ, not to love our neighbor as ourselves, but to love one another[7] AS HE LOVES US. To Him, this is not radical love, it is not to be unusual or uncommon. Instead, it is the expectation.
If we can grasp this truth, it will change our lives.
The one who surrenders to Christ to the point of obedience to His Word is not doing anything more than what is expected of the believer. It is, in fact, the believer’s reasonable act of service to offer themselves a living sacrifice to the One Who gave His life for them.[8]
Here’s the thing – these things will look different in each and every one of our lives. There will be some similarities but there will also be incredible diversity in how we walk out our relationship with Christ, how we grow and mature in Him, the fruit we bear, and when we bear it. Life in Christ is a process of continually growing from glory to glory. We may look at someone further along in one area than we are and be amazed, but we must remember we are not seeing anything “radical” we are just seeing the manifestation of Christ in and through their life. To someone else, our lives might appear just as amazing. But these things should encourage us to draw closer to Christ, to know Him more, to walk in greater obedience, faith, surrender, and love. These things should invite us to celebrate the faith and obedience of our brother or sister in Christ while being inspired to continue growing up in all things in Christ as we observe the example of their life. That is what discipleship is about.
How can we possibly disciple others if we do not follow Him ourselves? How can we disciple others if we view the basic tenets of Christian life as somehow “radical” and unusual?
The truth is, we cannot. We can only invite someone else to follow us as we follow Christ[9] if we’re following Him and living lives that set an example of surrender, obedience, forgiveness, faith, and love. If we are not living that life, to whom are we pointing the ones we seek to disciple because it is most certainly not to Christ.
The idea that surrender, obedience, forgiveness, faith, and love are radical is what leaves many people hurt in the church, it stops them from growing. Why? Because in their pursuit of God and walking in His ways the Church herself condemns them as being “holier than thou” or “self-righteous” because their heart to follow God and His Word brings a sense of conviction to those who call themselves by the name of Christ but do not walk in His ways.
If you’re put off by someone’s walk with God – it may do you well to keep your mouth shut and turn to Him and find out why someone else’s devotion to Him might be rubbing you the wrong way. Is there a point in which you are being disobedient, and their obedience reminds you of your own shortcomings? Is there a secret sin that you are harboring that their behavior reminds you of and rather than acknowledging your sin you turn on someone who reminds you that you are doing wrong simply by their lifestyle?
This is the point in which iron sharpens iron, but not all who call themselves Christians are “iron” and that is proved by their response to the way other believers are living for Christ. Is there a celebration in their development, obedience, faith, and love or is there resentment? Is there the inspiration to run after the things of God with greater abandon and surrender or is there bitterness and loathing? Is there conviction followed by genuine repentance or is there anger and frustration? One is being sharpened, the other revealed.
I’ve had occasions where I have shared pieces of my testimony with different believers and been chastised for forgiving and loving someone who abused me and caused excruciating pain. They told me that God could not expect that of me and yet, not only did He command it, He empowered me then to do it because it was God working in me both to will and to do His good pleasure.[10] They called it “radical forgiveness” and some even said I could not possibly have forgiven and if I did maybe things weren’t what I claimed because “no one could forgive that.”
To me, the forgiveness was a natural overflow of the love of my crucified Savior shed abroad in my heart. The rebukes, and that is what they were, made me not want to share what God had done. They made me question the sincerity of my heart. But when I turned back to the Lord and took my eyes off the opinions of those who were well-meaning but not informed, I recognized that this was an area that God had worked hard and long on in my heart and that my journey with Him was not theirs. That forgiveness did not negate what happened but acknowledged, rather, that I do not have the right to hold anything against anyone because of the cross of Christ. This, like every other part of the Christian life in the Kingdom, is something we all grow in at a different pace.
This is not meant, in any way, to be a criticism but rather an invitation to look at those things that you tend to refer to as “radical” or “extraordinary” in the lives of other believers and ask the Holy Spirit to show you how He sees them (not the person, the action/behavior/belief). Perhaps, you see them as radical and extraordinary because they are areas that He wants to mature you in, and He’s pointing them out to you to get your attention.
We are called to be different from the world. In it, but not of it. Part of this is understanding that the things of the Kingdom are radical and extraordinary to the world – but not to us.
Let us live in the light as He is in the light[11] and raise our standard of living to the standard of Christ and not the world or even the best Christian we know. Embracing who He has made us to be and our journey, while we celebrate and draw encouragement from who He made others to be and their journeys.
[1] Luke 6:46
[2] Matthew 6:14-15
[3] Galatians 2:20
[4] Romans 1:17
[5] Acts 17:28
[6] Romans 14:23
[7] John 13:34-35
[8] Romans 12:1
[9] 1st Corinthians 11:1
[10] Philippians 2:13
[11] 1st John 1:7
