Radical Mistakes

I am reading lots of thoughts on being radical now and days. I personally love being challenged to trust Christ more in the day to day issues of life. I am so easily conformed to the world around me and I am glad for people who stand up with spiritual megaphones and shout that I need to think like a Christian. It's great to be pushed to follow Christ!At the same time, I am also seeing some concerns, not so much with the books about being radical but more pastoral concerns, with the way some might respond to challenges to go all out. People saying whoa, slow down, we need to be radical but we need to be careful not think of radical as a means of earning salvation or just as going somewhere or doing something people think is crazy.Anyway, it all got me thinking and I thought I could just jot down a couple of early morning thoughts on mistakes I have seen myself make as I have thought about being radical and that I think are easy for others to make as they think about perhaps becoming more and more involved in things like mercy ministries.1. Not believing you are saved completely by the work of Christ on your behalf. Doing what you do for acceptance or to be your own savior makes everything you do ugly and gross. Cement it in your mind forever, there is only one Savior and it is not you!2. Thinking of yourself as the hero who sweeps in to save the day. When we first moved to South Africa I talked with many people about mercy ministry, cross cultural ministry and many of the more theologically correct people unfortunately didn't have a whole lot to say. But one day I was at the park and somehow I met a pastor from the States who was serving in one of the townships and I started speaking to him and he said something that I won't forget. "Always ask yourself what am I learning from the people I am serving alongside?" He used to ask that question of some of the guys he knew and they would have a very difficult time answering, they would say things like, "Oh I am learning to sing better" or something silly like that. Man, what I have seen is that if your eyes are open and you don't think of yourself as so much better than the people you are working with, you can learn a ton and I mean a ton, I would need a whole other post to start writing down the lessons I have learned and the ways I have been changed. That's probably one of my favorite parts, what I learn from those I get to work with.3. Not appreciating the complexity of sin, how people can be victims and sinners all at the same time. It is easy to think of people as just sinners who are completely responsible for their not getting a job or what, but then you get in there and you see it is a whole lot bigger than that, there is poor schooling, there is prejudice, there is this and that. At the same time, it is easy just to think of people as victims and that's just not reality. There are sinful patterns that make it difficult for us to move forward and it doesn't help anyone to ignore that.4. Thinking of everyone you meet as the same as the last person you met. Watch out for cynicism. It's just not fair.5. Not believing in the miracle of the new birth. People can change, people can change, people can change! But God has to do it, God has to do it, God has to do it! Religion is not enough. New habits are not enough. They, we, need new life!6. Thinking that people's biggest problems are physical.7. Not understanding that some of people's problems are physical.8. Thinking of being radical as a place you live or an activity you do, instead of simply exercising faith in the place God has put you. Some people think I have to move to Timbuktu to be radical. If God called you to that, great. On the other hand, that's making radical too, too small. You can be radical as a janitor picking up trash in Beverly Hills. It's a matter of really trusting God - you will keep your promises, you are true to your word and I am going to bank everything in my life on that, right here, right now. If you really believe God, the gospel, that God is for you, that is going to free you up and I guarantee you, your life is going to look so different than the world around you even if you live in the same comfortable place.9. Not fighting being self-absorbed. This is the real issue. It is easy to be self-absorbed doing mercy ministry and it is easy to be self-absorbed not doing mercy ministry. They just show up in different ways. You can definitely be working in a factory in Fishbowl, Arizona and be completely radical as you exercise your faith in God, care about the people around you and you can definitely be completely unradical as you work fighting sex trafficking in Bolivia as you do what you do for the attention of others, use people to achieve your own glory and things like that.10. Thinking of mercy primarily as projects instead of people. We as Americans love projects and I guess that is fine, but don't miss out on the people. It's often a lot less glorious to sit down with a guy for an hour and talk about their relationship with God than it is to build some big hospital somewhere or something, but it's vital, HUGE, important. When you become interested in people, really interested, you are going to discover that some guy driving a huge car with enough food, may have these tremendous problems that are a whole lot bigger than the guy living in the tin shack. Don't buy the world's categories. James says the poor believer should boast in his high position. What? If you have Christ that is a reason to be so happy not just to be pitied because you don't have a lot of money. Anyway, rambling again.11. Not being realistic in your view of life and ministry. It is easy to have this fairy tale view of ministry where you think if only I were in this other place doing this it would always be exciting, I would always be on the front line. But the fact is alot of life is sleeping, alot of life is going to the bathroom, if you know what I mean, alot of life is not strategic, not all that thrilling, and that's o.k., we can honor God in all of that as well.