Do you believe that Jesus is worth abandoning everything for? Do you believe him enough to obey him and to follow him wherever he leads, even when the crowds in our culture - maybe even our churches - turn the other way?
Interpretation
This quote challenges individuals to prioritize their faith in Jesus above all else, even in the face of societal pressure.
David Platt's quote emphasizes the importance of commitment to one's faith in Jesus, especially when external influences may lead one to abandon their beliefs. It poses a provocative question about the depth of one's faith and willingness to forsake earthly attachments for spiritual conviction, highlighting the courage needed to stand firm in one's beliefs even when faced with opposition from society or within one's community.
In practice
During a sermon about faith and commitment, a pastor could use this quote to inspire the congregation.
So what is the difference between someone who willfully indulges in sexual pleasures while ignoring the Bible on moral purity and someone who willfully indulges in the selfish pursuit of more and more material possessions while ignoring the Bible on caring for the poor? The difference is that one involves a social taboo in the church and the other involves the social norm in the church.
The price is certainly high for people who don’t know Christ and who live in a world where Christians shrink back from self-denying faith and settle into self-indulging faith. While Christians choose to spend their lives fulfilling the American dream instead of giving their lives to proclaiming the kingdom of God, literally billions in need of the Gospel remain in the dark
What if the very reason we have breath is because we have been saved for a global mission? And what if anything less than passionate involvement in global mission is actually selling God short by frustrating the very purpose for which he created us?
A high view of God’s sovereignty fuels death-defying devotion to global missions. Maybe another way to put it, people, and more specifically pastors, who believe that God’s sovereign over all things will lead Christians to die for the sake of all peoples.
[...]there is no injustice in God. The injustice lies in Christians who possess the gospel and refuse to give their lives to making it known among those who haven't heard.
God involves us in his missions not because He needs us, but because He loves us. And in His mercy He has invited us to be involved in His sovereign design for the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth.
Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It's simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step.
Prayer is the hand of faith on the door knob of your heart, inviting Jesus to enter.
Strange as it may sound, it is more difficult to maintain a faith walk when we begin to see our dreams come true. When hopes become realities it is easy to shift our faith onto the thing we have dreamed of and off of the One who was the source of our provision.
I am God's wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ's pure bread.
Saving faith is the faith of God's elect; the special gift of God to them, wrought in them by his Spirit.
It's been a constant struggle with my athletic career to identify myself as a child of God and understand that His love is unconditional for us; it's not conditional like fans, or coaches, or even myself.
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