I hunger for biblical truth. With all the cultural, denominational differences in theology, several years ago God directed me to His Word. Since then, I've devoured the Bible, praying for God to reveal to me the truths I am to run this life with. Along the way, He has continually placed books which expound upon the truths He lays on my heart. Radical by David Platt is the most recent of these. I'll give you a few things from it to chew on today.......The Bible does not teach that wealth alone implies unrighteousness or warrants condemnation. The rich man in the story is not in hell because he had money. Instead, he is in hell because he lacked faith in God, leading him to indulge in luxuries while ignoring the poor outside his gate. As a result, earth was his heaven, and eternity became his hell. Regardless of what we say or sing or study on Sunday morning, rich people who neglect the poor are not the people of God.
Like the rich man in Mark 10, every Christian has to wrestle with what Jesus is calling us to do with our resources as we follow Him. Are we willing to ask God if he wants us to sell everything we have and give the money to the poor? Are we willing to ask and wait for an answer instead of providing one of our own or justifying our ideas of why he would never tell us to do this? This seems a bit radical, but isn't it normal and expected when we follow a Master who said, "Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple"? Jesus never intended to be one voice among many counseling us on how to lead our lives and use our money. He always intends to be the voice that guides whatever decisions we make in our lives and with our money. There is never going to be a day when I stand before God and He looks at me and says, 'I wish you would have kept more for yourself.'
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