It was only just a Dream...

One thing that has been on my mind a lot lately has been trying to figure out what it means to live radically for Christ.  I have been inspired lately by a few different people who I have seen take HUGE steps of faith to follow what they believe is their purpose.  But I have all these conflicting desires in my heart of hearts...I want to reach out to the world, to deliver physical and spiritual care to the hurting (which I guess is really all of us), to give of myself to the point where I know at the end of the day that I did the most and the best that I could.  But on the other hand I am attracted to the American Dream.  I want a cute little house that I can decorate to my taste.  I want a couple more dogs.  I want a thriving 401k so I never have to worry about my financial future.  I want a successful career.  I want a huge budget for clothes so I can just go buy something when I am sick of what I have in my closet.  I want a car that is newer than  '98 (no offense Honda).  To be honest, my desire for these things usually (like about 99% of the time) overpowers my desire to get out of my comfort zone and give 'till it hurts. 

I am borrowing the book "Radical" by David Platt.  I am only a few pages into it but I can already tell it is going to change the way I think about some things.  The last book that really changed my mindset was "Searching for God Knows What" by Donald Miller.

I don't feel like I'm rich.  But when I look at stats like what can be found on globalrichlist.com it changes my view on my income a little bit. Here's a graph I borrowed from there:


This graph shows the yearly incomes of the approximately 6 (soon to be 7) billion people on earth, making the wealth distribution (or lack thereof) very obvious.  This really shocks me.  I am used to hearing about the poverty in certain areas of Africa and South America (both of which I have witnessed firsthand), but I would think that our incomes would be pretty average when you consider the other more developed countries.  Apparently not.  I feel really privileged to live in a place where I have been given so much.  But it also makes me think of Luke 12:48 - "When someone has been given much, much will be required in return".  I don't really know what the right course of action is for us at this point.  All I know is, I would be pretty embarrassed to stand before God at this point and show the little that I have done so far with what I have been given.

I've always told myself that there is nothing wrong with spending a lot of money on a nice big house or nice clothes as long as I am tithing 10%.  I'm starting to think harder about this.