My Radical Manifesto

“A genuine man goes to the roots. To be a radical is no more than that: to go to the roots.”- Jose Marti

       To live “radically” is an idea that many people fear, and many people tend to stay away from if they can. Radical living, especially when religion is involved, tends to bring to mind an idea of religious extremism, which involves people taking their beliefs to a rare level, and many times taking the role of God upon themselves. Much of the turmoil in which religion finds itself in the midst of, traces the roots of the problem back to extremists who believe it is their “duty” to purge the world of evil, and will take any means necessary to achieve retribution in the name of their God. Although this is not what many intend to convey when they speak of radical living, extremism has sadly become the face of radical living in most cases.

            While many believe extremism to be the only possible way to live a radical life, we are given a far more superior example of radical living throughout the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The perfect picture of a Radical that we have in history is found in Jesus, and every action that he did while on earth. Jesus came into this earth with a purpose, He lived continuously according to this purpose without fail, and He completely went against everything that worldly living calls us to (non-conforming, Romans 12:2). Not mention, he lived radically without even trying.

Here we are presented with our problem, and our initial error in attempting to live radically. People believe radical living is something that can be forced, something that can easily be conformed to, and something that takes no real effort on our part at all. Many people believe that they can live a truly radical life by just sitting back, living life normally, and expect something miraculous at some point to happen to prove that God is really there. People believe if they go to church on Sundays, read their Bibles every now and then, and try to live a decent life, they will be ok. The terrible misconception in that comes when Jesus is nowhere to be found in our lives, we have no genuine relationship, and we are basically walking billboards for “right-living” with no real substance in our hearts. We were never called to be perfect, to be a savior to all people, or to somehow think that we can live perfect lives. When you try to live that way, all you will find is yourself broken and alone.

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” – John 5: 39-40

            Here is the danger that Christians will run into in their everyday life: we believe that just because we read the Bible, and talk about Jesus we are somehow doing everything right. That is the foothold we find ourselves in. It’s not about just reading the Bible for the sake of gaining knowledge, it’s not about talking about Jesus to build up your repertoire, and it’s not about praying to make ourselves feel better. Everything that we do in our lives should be rooted in the fact that we are placing ourselves in a position to be impacted by God, and have His Holy Spirit work within us. Too many people in our time do things to somehow boost their self-image or for selfish gain, and this is a trap we all fall into (myself especially).

            Jesus Tells us that we read the scriptures, which should lead us directly to Him based on their evidence of who He is, yet somehow we never actually go to Him so that we can truly live. We claim to desire to live radically, to be placing ourselves in a position to live radically, yet we somehow miss the only thing, which truly can allow us to live radically, Jesus. The only way to live a truly radical life is to be seeking Jesus himself daily, denying every fleshly impulse you have in your body, and desiring to have the will of God lived out through your daily life.

 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? – John 5: 44

            We, as humans, tend to find our worth in what the world thinks of us, and find our significance in the impact that we personally are having on other people. We judge how well we’re doing in our spiritual life by the impact we are making on those around us, and how they view us as spiritual beings. This is our flaw. We worry too much about our impact on others, and if we are truly being effective for God’s Kingdom. You will only make an impact in this life, if you first realize you have no ability to make an impact. All you can do is entrust everything to the Father, and allow Him to work through you.

            People never want to admit their imperfections, they never want people to know there’s something wrong with them, and they want to build up this image of themselves that everyone will somehow bow down to and recognize as worthy of the calling of God. The only time you can be worthy of the calling of God is if you have humbled yourself before him, and say, "the only way I can further the Kingdom is through God working in me."

            Which brings me back to my main and final point: Radical living comes only when you get to the heart of what it is you believe, Jesus, and live everyday for Him and Him alone. It’s not about what your church thinks of you, what your bible study thinks of you, what your friends think of you, what anyone thinks of you. It’s all about living for God, admitting you are imperfect and in need of His grace, and living every second according to the Grace which has been bestowed to you. Radical living has nothing to do with religious extremism, with purging the world of evil, with anything violent or crazy.

Radical living is actually quite simple, so simple most people miss it. To be truly radical, all you must do is let go of everything you are holding onto in this world, realize you are nothing without Christ, search for Him in everything, and continuously seek and live your life by Him working within you. That is the only way to be truly radical. Stop living for yourself and the people of this world, and live for Christ and Christ alone.

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”- Luke 9: 23

Live boldly this week, and live for Christ above all else.

God Bless,

Trip Starkey