UNCOMPLICATED FAITH

A little 5 year old came running from church calling, “Mommy, do you know that Jesus loves me?” Have you ever thought about how easy it is for a young child to understand how to become a child of God yet an intelligent adult cannot?   

Nicodemus, a scholar in Biblical times, recognized that Jesus possessed godly power because he performed miracles but could not understand a simple spiritual truth. Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again”.  “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. It was not a complicated situation, it was just too simple. There is a point where adult reason ends and simple childlike faith begins.

“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”. (John 1:9 –12). It was a simple spiritual concept that those who accept Jesus as the son of God become his children. Have you believed yet?

You do not have to accept the Bible as the word of God. You do not have to know theology.

How much did the thieves, crucified alongside of Jesus, know about him? One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: Aren’t you the messiah? Save yourself and us! But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God, he said, since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong”. Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”. Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23: 39 –43). It was not complicated. It was simple. The criminal who accepted Jesus as the messiah went to heaven and the one who doubted did not go to heaven in spite of the fact that both had a life of crime.

The Bible tells us that salvation is a gift from God with no strings attached. We cannot work for it or expect good deeds to get us to heaven. From a human point of view this may not seem fair but it is just. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. (Eph 2:8 and 9). It is as uncomplicated and simple as that.

Let’s not make it more complicated than it is. A simple bit of knowledge and the faith to believe it is all it takes to become a child of God. But then what?

Maturing in our faith can be complicated. Ephesians 4:11 –13 says “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teaches, to equip his people for the works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ”. We each have a spiritual gift that needs to be indentified and actively used. We need to equip ourselves for service. We need to keep learning about Christ and using him as our example. We need to spend a life time studying the Bible to understand God and how he works in our lives.

 

But God has given us his indwelling Spirit to help us make the complicated faith, uncomplicated.