The Simplicity that is in Christ

Men are rarely satisfied with the simplicity of the Christ as is revealed in the Bible. It is a quirk of human nature that men attempt to design a Jesus that fulfills their own specifications, expectations, and imaginations.

Jesus once asked the disciples who men said that He was. Their answers were interesting. The most common answer had Jesus being the reincarnation of one of the prophets. It seems inevitable that men will have Jesus to be different from He is or less than He is.

This will always be true when men view Him with eyes other than what the Holy Spirit gives them. As long as men view Him with human eyes they will find only a historic Christ and will evaluate Him as such. Eyes of reason will always find human explanations for all that He is and has done. In order to appreciate and appropriate who He is, one must have all scales of rationalism and human expectation removed.

The Thomas mentality of our lives with its cynicism must be removed. Jesus doesn't need to be proven by us to anyone. When He reveals His graciousness to men's hearts, they come to rest realizing His reality.

It is human nature to make the simple complicated. We preachers can turn a single word into a three point message--complete with introduction, exposition, poem and conclusion. When we get through we may have educated the mind but until Christ is revealed that is all that happens.

Most of the books in the average Christian bookstore or theological library would be rendered useless when Jesus is realized in the human heart. I'm aware of and subscribe to the need for explanation and edification in men's pursuit of obedience. I am convinced, however, that much of what we write and speak would be unnecessary if men were made more aware of the presence of Christ.

Long forgotten practices of piety need to be restored to the Christian life. Generally speaking, probably the least practiced part of piety is that of prayer. Many questions of understanding, faith and obedience are answered when we spend quality time with Jesus in prayer. It is much easier to talk about prayer--to read and write books about it--than it is to practice it. Without the continual practice of prayer our faith becomes a definition rather than a practice and our walk a struggle of human will rather than one of divine enabling.

There was a time when the prayer and fasting practiced by the saints caused Satan, his hosts and followers to tremble with fear and to flee with desperation. It seems in this day that he has captured the day. Right is now considered to be wrong and the multitudes defend practices that have long been considered to be the ultimate in perversion. Moral and ethical standards are viewed in terms of political and economic expediency rather than Biblical convictions and standards.

Our knowledge of Jesus will be limited to emotional and rational considerations unless we despair of all and turn to Him with our whole heart. The hour is too late and the needs are too great for us to equivocate. God fearing and Christ centered people must go back to their knees in absolute abandonment to Him. It is unfortunate that it takes the ultimate in human struggle to bring us to the point of surrender instead of a genuine hunger for Christ but, however, God loves us enough to use whatever means it takes to bring us back to the simplicity that is in Jesus.

There could never be a better time for a great national revival of Christian faith. Now is the time and today is the day. Let us seek Him with all of our hearts, forgetting all complicated notions of religion---simply clinging to Christ in His simplicity.

Jeff