Maintaining Simplicity

In the early years of Interstate Christian Fellowship, we met in the conference room of Holiday Inn. Things were very simple then. It is a simplicity I continually try to maintain. I remember, in those early times that some friends I had met on my trip to Argentina were in town for a visit. As we prepared to leave for Sunday morning services at the Holiday Inn they shared a word with me. They felt that a visitor would have an important message for me on that particular morning. The visitor would be a woman dressed in a simple black dress. I kind of dismissed the idea since there were very few ladies that wore dresses to our contemporary services. During worship I looked back over the audience and sure enough, there was a lady in a black dress. She entered into worship and came up to speak to me at the end. She only said a couple of things, but one thing she said forever remains in my mind. She said, “Keep it simple.” I still wonder if she was an angel that we were entertaining unawares.

Some time later a minister visited us from Florida. I had not ever met the minister and I think he was kind of passing through and was staying at the motel. He also came up after the service and said about the same thing. He said, “When you get out of this conference room and get established in your own building, continue to keep it simple.” These messages continued to burn in my spirit because it was the same thing God was saying to me over the years. His ways are higher than our ways but He isn’t complicated. He is the Father of creative thoughts and ways… yet he asked Adam to name the animals. Adam named them in the language of the day later translated in our language to dog, cow, cat, bear, lion…. Kind of simple I think.

One of the most profound things we can do in these chaotic times is keep it simple. The world rushes on. Religion is always busy, extremely active, and promoting lots of hard work. The things of God are perverted from simplicity to a complicated and complex way of service. We love the message and story of Jesus taking a child and requesting that we keep our faith like that of a child. However, we neglect to guard our hearts to keep it childlike. We take pride in our maturity as if it is God calling us to a more complicated life. We are definitely expected to mature but we are to keep a childlike nature in our relationship with God. He is Abba. He is Daddy. He considers those who keep such an attitude as the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven (see Matthew 18:1-5). This is so different from man’s way of thinking.

We are to be childlike but not childish. Childlike involves simplicity, honesty, trust, and excitement about simple things. Children have a sense of innocence and humility. They are very teachable. These are qualities that we must maintain in our walk with Christ. Simplicity maintenance is often hard in our times. It is normal to complicate almost every situation because of our access to technology and new inventions. There are so many new and old programs that beckon our attention. This has been a very soulish generation. We continue to nurture our emotions by biting into anything that looks good or feels good. We offend Holy Spirit by choosing our soulish ideas over His deeper ways. We must return to Holy Spirit leadership received in childlike attitude or we are headed for burnout. Most of us have experienced so much derailment that we have a phobia of climbing on the train again. We have gone around the same mountain so many times we are left hopeless and empty. People who do the same thing over and over without any results are insane. Is there anybody out there who is tired of religious insanity?

On the other side of the coin let us address the problem of being childish. While most Christians struggle to maintain Christ-like simplicity, many fall into being childish. Being childish is failing to mature. For a grown man to suck on his thumb seems ridiculous. However, in the church we pacify such actions. We have glorified the crib. If there is ever a generation that must repent for staying in the spiritual crib, it is this generation. Multitudes of believers have refused to move from the crib. As the writer of Hebrews encourages us, we must move on from elementary things to greater maturity (see Hebrews 6).

The glorified crib of our times comes in many forms. It comes in our reluctance to grow even when it is painful. It comes in the form of our doubt that we can do the greater works that Jesus encouraged us to do. It comes in our comfort of doing the same thing over and over because that is just the way we have always done it.

It is much easier to hole up in a church building a couple of times a week and hear a pep talk and sing lullabies, than to go out to the streets and heal the sick. It is much easier to congregate in a building and follow a new program every quarter than to intercede for our community and storm heaven through prayer to know the heart of God for our cities. It is easier to follow the ways we already know than to step outside the box and do something different as Holy Spirit leads. It is easier to be a settler than a pioneer. It is easier to follow than to lead. It is easier to float downstream with all the trash than paddle upstream or on a less traveled tributary. It is often hard to travel the road less traveled. We have been in the spiritual nursery for so long that anything different would come as a culture shock. God is calling this generation to repentance. The simple heart will follow Jesus wherever He leads. His word is simple in its instructions. He pushes for relationship with His Father and love for our fellowman. He sends us with a message of hope and good news. He empowers us to heal and to move mountains. He equips us to be deployed to make disciples of all nations. He is good but his ways are not always safe. The path can be treacherous and many will lose their lives along the way.

I recently heard the story about a million Chinese believers that intend to walk the journey to Jerusalem. They must cross many nations that are not accepting of Christianity. They are prepared for many to lose their lives to the journey. In some places there may be a life lost each step of the way. Do they think of canceling the trip? No way. Does this sound even close to American Christianity? I don’t need to answer that. A simple march. A simple way of life. A simple faith. A simple way of worship. A simple way of doing church. A simple way of living for Christ. Which of these is Christ calling you to?