God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. ( 1 John 4:9-12)
Read: Daniel 11:36-45, Daniel 12, 1 John 4, Psalms 123:1-4, Proverbs 29:2-4
Relate: Being a radical anything has very negative connotations in this day and age. No one wants to be an extremist. Radicals have given radical living a bad name. It is time for radical Christians to change that.
God is a radical. He is as extreme as they come. He sent his only son to die in our place. I would say that is pretty far out there. It is a love like no other, and if we claim to be followers of God, we need to love like no other.
Radicals who are out pointing fingers, preaching hate, and killing others in the name of God, may need to take a second look at the book of 1 John. John makes the claim that if we do not love one another we don’t even know God because God is love.
React: It is easy to love God because God loves us. It is hard to love people. People don’t always do things we think they should. We disagree with people, and we get angry when they won’t see things our way. Love is hard. Love can require extreme living and extreme grace.
As Timothy Keller says in The Reason For God: Belief in the Age of Skepticism, “Think of people you consider fanatical. They’re overbearing, self-righteous, opinionated, insensitive, and harsh. Why? It’s not because they are too Christian, it’s because they are not Christian enough. They are fanatically zealous and courageous, but they are not fanatically humble, sensitive, loving, emphatic, forgiving, or understanding- as Christ was… What strikes us as overly fanatical is actually a failure to be fully committed to Christ and his gospel.”
It is time to show the world what a radical Christian really is: love with skin on.
THE RIVER WALK 
“What strikes us as overly fanatical is actually a failure to be fully committed to Christ and his gospel” – I agree.
Reblogged this on Cheetahs's Weblog and commented:
“What strikes us as overly fanatical is actually a failure to be fully committed to Christ and his gospel” – I agree.
We had a guy at our church that was obsessed with street witnessing. He thought being a street witness would prevent people from going to hell. So he wore obnoxious shirts that were meant to strike up debates. He was arrogant, a know it all, and was a fanatic. He ended up missing so much work to street witness he couldn’t pay the bills. He and his wife and kids were evicted. Now they are legally separated and he’s been kicked out of the church. What a winner. He still is trying to save people. Meanwhile he’s ruined his life and dishonored Christ. The most humble and loving are the most radical.
I love reading your perspectives. Amazing. God truly has revealed His word to you through the Holy Spirit. Thank u for sharing.
In my own experience (where I have gone down that road) it happens when I begin to follow someone else’s teaching and lifestyle without taking the time to vet that direction through prayer and the counsel of God’s word. How I wish that someone in my life back then had been able to get through to me. But God is a sovereign and loving Father and He helped us through those times. Bless you for sharing.
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“fanatically humble, sensitive, loving, emphatic, forgiving, or understanding- as Christ was” – sounds so …. uninviting to our human ears – sounds right to the new heart He gave me though. Thank you and it seems I need to read more by Mr Keller.
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I needed this today. Thank you for having a Christian blog to lead as an example to others. Really appreciate your encouraging posts! 🙂