i may talk you out of following Jesus...

The Lord has really been speaking to me lately and drawing me deeper into Him. Through this, I've been taking Hebrews 12:1-3 seriously. The Lord has blessed me with extreme purity and woven mercy into my DNA. I didn't think I held much on in the flesh. However, I was wrong. The Lord began to show me that just because I don't have problems with lust or major selfish ambition, doesn't mean that I can eat at fast food restaurants and put caffeine and high fructose corn syrup into my body and say that I am pure and unselfish. 2 Corinthians 7:1 says to purify ourselves from everything that contaminates both BODY and SPIRIT. I'm very intentional when it comes to loving Jesus. That may sound lame, but I'm intentional about hanging out with my best friend, so I feel like I should be intentional about loving the living God. In my intentional nature, I decided to do a body detox where I did a full food fast. I fast on a regular basis, so I figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal. However, it was miserable, and I met so much opposition. I choose to do something kind-of radical in order to decrease that Christ may increase, and I meet opposition from Christians. Today, as I wrote a discussion board post for my introduction to missions class, it occurred to me that the more radical I make my life, the more likely non-Christians will be drawn to what I have and the more likely I will receive extreme persecution from Christians (religious people).

This week I have been a wreck. In this process of sanctification and consecration, I am just being hit with the inability to be comfortable with mediocrity. As I read the word and listen for His voice, I see John the Baptist surviving only on locusts and honey, yet still living a life of prayer and fasting. I hear Jesus saying, "Casey, I want you to live a life of simplicity. You don't need three meals a day, just because America says you need that. I want you to find satisfaction in Me alone, not in food." I am scared of the radical life I hear Him calling me into. However, I know it's worth it. I know I have to do it. Or I could walk away from my faith. But I would NEVER do that because I have tasted and I have seen that the Lord is GOOD. He is good! I'm beginning to understand what Paul meant in Philippians 2 when he said to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. I'm extraordinarily fearful.

I started reading Radical by David Platt today. In it, he talks about Luke 9. We easily can say, "Oh well that was for back then, it's not for today." But why? How can we say some of the Bible is applicable and some is not? If we pick and choose what we want to follow or believe, we're saying we are better than God. We are not better than God. David Platt says, "I am convinced that we as Christ followers in American churches have embraced values and ideas that are not only unbiblical but that actually contradict the gospel we claim to believe." Jesus says that "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has no place to lay his head." Jesus says we may be homeless. In the next chapter of Luke he says when you go, don't take sandals or a bag. I could keep going, but I think I need to just pray and figure out how to tell my parents that I want to quit college, take my college money and buy a one way plane ticket to India, where I plan on being homeless, touching lepers and healing them.

Please comment. Tell me to do it. Tell me I'm absolutely crazy. Tell me whatever you feel like.