Radical Disciples – A Remnant Revolution

Be Transformed……..

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

Many things in modern society are customizable; they can be twisted, tweaked, shaped and adapted to fit our own personal desires. If I but a car, for example, I can pick and choose a variety of different options so that I can have a car that does all of the things I want it to do. If I order a meal at a restaurant, I can typically have the ingredients for that meal adjusted to fit my personal preferences.

Such customization id often helpful and provides many benefits for many stations in life. Unfortunately, many of us have wrongly attempted to apply the principle of customization when it comes to following Jesus. Often without realizing it, we have the tendency to redefine Christianity according to our own taste, preferences, church traditions, and cultural norms.

Slowly, subtly. We take the Jesus of the Bible and twist Him into someone with whom we’re a little more comfortable. We dilute what He said about the cost of following Him, disregard what He said about those who choose not to follow Him, misread what He said about materialism, and functionally miss what He said about mission. We pick and choose what we like and don’t like from Jesus’ teachings and in the end create a nice, non-offensive, politically correct. Middle class. American Jesus who looks and thinks just like us.

Here’s the problem: Jesus isn’t customizable. He hasn’t left Himself open to interpretation, adaptions, innovation, or alteration. He’s spoken clearly through His Word, and we have no right to conform Him to our own lives and our own desires.

Quite the contrary. To follow Christ is to be conformed to His image as He transforms our minds and wills through His Truth. We bend to Him. We adapt to Him. Ultimately, we submit to Him as Lord. ~ David Platt Follow Me, “A call to Die, A call to Live”