I just finished reading Radical,Taking Back Your Faith by David Platt. I think that it is a book every Christian should read.

We call it radical but it is really just Biblical Christianity.

Here is an excerpt that I hope will motivate you to get the book:

At the end of Luke 9, we find a story about three men who approached Jesus, eager to follow him. In surprising fashion, though, Jesus seems to have tried to talk them out of doing so.

The first guy said, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus responded, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son ofMan has no place to lay his head.”

In other words, Jesus told this man that he could expect homelessness on the journey ahead. Followers of Christ are not guaranteed that even their basic need of shelter will be met.

The second man told Jesus that his father had just died. The man wanted to go back, bury his father, and then follow Jesus. Jesus replied, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

I remember distinctly the moment when my own dad died unexpectedly of a heart attack. Amid the immense heaviness of the days that followed and the deep desire of my heart to honor my dad at his funeral, I cannot imagine hearing these words from Jesus: “Don’t even go to your dad’s funeral.There aremore important things to do.”

A third man approached Jesus and told him that he wanted to follow him, but before he did, he wanted to say good-bye to his family.

Jesus wouldn’t let him. He told the man, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Plainly put, a relationship with Jesus requires total, superior, and exclusive devotion.

Become homeless.

Let someone else bury your dad.

Don’t even say good-bye to your family.

Is it surprising that, from all we can tell in Luke 9, Jesus was successful in persuading these men not to follow him?

Check out bcwe.org