A good book. I appreciate how David Platt, a world renowned pastor, is real about his personal struggles with The Problem of Evil, his thoughts about God and good and evil in the world, etc. He doesn’t shy away from “controversial” topics like giving away your wealth. The book is mostly just a diary of his journey, which is indeed interesting by itself, and it’s interrupted with his thoughts about the events and how what he saw changed his perspective of the world.
Platt gets across his message: we are too comfortable; something needs to change. In fact, one of the questions he poses to readers is, what are you sacrificing to be a Christian and how can you increase that amount of sacrifice? He doesn’t really give an answer for what you should change in your life. Simply that you should change. There are countless people suffering across the world, and by being born in America, you are truly privileged beyond comprehension. Remember that making $40,000 puts you in the top 1% of wealth in the world.
Notes
So, I conclude, the only way to avoid the cost Jesus describes in Luke 14 is not to follow him. Maybe we can call ourselves Christians, but we’ll be doing so as we indulge in a world of comfort while ignoring a world of urgent spiritual and physical need. Or maybe giving relative minutes of our time and pennies of our money while continuing on witha life that’s essentially focused on ourselves.
— David Platt
Indeed… we are way too comfortable for the kind of life we should be living as described in the Bible. And it bothers me a bit that modern churches don’t do or say anything about this.
Takeaways
- I should give away a lot of money.
- Christianity is a religion; true following of the Bible requires a commitment most Americans are not comfortable with (even among “Christians”).