I am not a big fan of reading non-fiction books. I'll just be upfront about that. Why? Many of the non-fiction books I have read tend to carry a weakened down version of the Gospel and Christianity. Many of them about how to improve your spiritual and physical situation and are about you. But too many people are all about feeding self, physically and spiritually, and I've been guilty of that too. But as my blog posts the last couple months should have revealed by now, I've been seeking and striving to go to that next level in my walk with Jesus Christ and I feel like I have been crossing not mere one threshold but several. And one of the tools God has used to take me through this journey is the pastor of the Ellerslie Mission Society in Colorado, Eric Ludy. I have read two of his books which, to be honest, are the first non-fiction books I have read in a long time. The first one is "Wrestling Prayer" which is about taking the model of David's Mighty Men and using the courage they showed and apply it to our walk. The other, I just finished today, is "The Bravehearted Gospel".
The Bravehearted Gospel like Wrestling Prayer reads differently than any other non-fiction book I have read. It is not the author merely sharing his thoughts or trying to "preach" to his readers. These books read like a coffee-shop conversation between the reader and Eric Ludy. He reads like he talks, out of his heart, out of passion for the Lord AND for the reader to grasp that passion, and he reads like one with authority that generally speaking is greatly lacking in American culture today. Ludy is very quick to mention that merely writing the book makes him uncomfortable and I can easily picture him fighting God about trying to get out of writing it.
The message that The Bravehearted Gospel brings is very tough to read for the average Christian today. Why? Because this book is about getting off the couch or pew and getting into the situations that are not comfortable. Too many Christians in America in particular have gotten too comfortable in life. We life in Suburbia and while we are more than willing to feed the hungry or clothe the naked, we purpose to live in an area and travel in circles where we will be hard pressed to come across said people. And I'm guilty of this too, and that's with growing up on the mission field. I've been to the poorest of the poorest neighborhoods of Juarez, Mexico where families of 12 are living in a one-bedroom sized shack made of pallet and insulated with a few sparse blankets from the heat, cold, wind, and dirt. And I've always known that very night I would be able to sleep in my own bed. Even though I've seen it and I've reached out with groups, I've always had that safety blanket of a place to retreat. Now I am not saying I must sell absolutely everything I have and go live with the homeless, not unless God specifically has told me to do that. But my heart was not to reach out to the people as it should be. I loved going into Mexico with the outreach teams, but I loved going in with the team, not necessarily going to preach the Gospel, even though I did do that. My heart was not truly where it needed to be. This book has been part of the awakening that God has been taking me through to get me to take that extra step of faith and let Jesus save these people through me.
The Bravehearted Gospel has been telling me what I have known for a while but could not put a finger onto it. The Christian church in America is mostly devoid of power. I see a church that feeds its congregation very well but does very little other than send money and prayers to the needy. Now money and prayer are not bad things to send, but people are hiding behind that saying "If I can give my money for these missions, then I don't have to go myself." And this is the problem. The Church does not want to go out. They do not want to go where it is uncomfortable. They don't want speak the truth even if it is going to be unpopular. They don't want to act on their faith. They want to talk about it and decorate it and show the fluffy, fun stuff. But they don't want anything to do with the nitty-gritty. They don't want to deal with the fact that God is a Just and Jealous God. They lack the will and drive to make a stand because it is better to be loving and embracing rather than say something that might offend someone. They love debate and discussion. They love to consider all the options and all the possible interpretations. But not only do they never choose a side because they are keeping their options open, they are embracing worldviews that are in deliberate violation of God's Word as a viable option to consider. And they lack the backbone to put the foot down, lay down the law, and guard the door to their own hearts, the hearts of their families, the hearts of the church, etc. The Bravehearted Gospel is a call to regain that backbone that is missing in American Christianity. It is a call that what many of us see in the Church and in those who claim to follow Christ is not what Christ is about. We want to see the love and mercy of Christ. We want to hear the "Your sins are forgiven." from Christ. But we don't want to see the call to live a righteous live. We don't want to hear the "be Holy as he is Holy". We don't want to hear the "Go and sin no more." This book is about the "be Holy as he is Holy". It is about the drive to "Go and sin no more." But it does so knowing that the love and the "Your sins are forgiven" must remain with our faith and our walk. It is about living the true Christian walk as Jesus walked the Christian walk. It is about going out fearlessly, not caring what the world thinks about you, but caring only about what God thinks. It is about doing the impossible. And it also reveals that this life of the Bravehearted Gospel is truly impossible to do under man's abilities. It cannot be done. It can only be done by Jesus Christ. But as a Christian, we are the vessels in which Jesus DOES live it out. Jesus lives in us and he wants to live the life he wants to life in us and through us. He can do it and because he can do it, we can do it because he is doing it with us, in us, and through us. And it is this Bravehearted Journey that turns the world upside down.
If you read Hebrews 11, you will see this Bravehearted Gospel carried out by the Heroes of Faith. You will see the least of the least, the weak, the unskilled, the timid, the lost, the pathetic, all who were nobodies until God showed up and did the impossible through them. David's Mighty Men did impossible things because they had what the Bravehearted Gospel is talking about. I know my walk has been little more than just on cruise control. I have been lacking what the Bravehearted Gospel will drive us to do. I've known something has been lacking but I've not been able to put a name to it until now. And it is a call for me rise up and meet what this book is trying to describe. This book describes what the Christian life should entail. This book describes what opposition a person who is truly seeking to live and walk the True Christian life will face. If you try to live out what this book describes, it will make you unpopular with many who you think to be your friends because it will convict them and even the Christians friends may become jealous because this book will draw you to take your faith to a level it has never been before. This book is not the only piece of the puzzle that God has been working in my heart but it has put in the spotlights the problems I have seen both in the church and in my own life that has kept me from living a Bravehearted life. No more. I want to have that Bravehearted life. I want to life a life that would be worthy of being included in the list of David's Mighty Men or Hebrews 11. Not for my own glory, because I know that anything I do in the direction of this Bravehearted life must be for King and HIS Country only and none for me. This life is about dying to self. It is about going where you would not go if God did not call you there. It is about saying what you would not say if God did not tell you to say it. It is about doing what you would not do if God did not tell you to do it. I don't just want to say "Lord, I am available. Send me." I want to say, "Lord, tell me what to do. I will do it, no matter the cost and no matter the odds." And such a statement, when the rubber meets the road is much harder to swallow. I seek to get to that point. And I am heading there. I won't say if I am there yet or not, but I know I am heading there. Who is with me?
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