Simplicity – kenbarnes.us
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
(1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV)
“The essential condition of receiving light from heaven is not our sophistication but our simplicity.” Alistair Begg. The Apostle Paul kept it simple.
Once at my church, I had a friend named Vance. One of the first times I spoke at this church, Vance met me at the door and said, “Brother, you have a simple message; you are a simple man.” It was one of those comments that you must stop momentarily and figure out what he was trying to say. I have pondered this moment and concluded that his comment may be the greatest compliment I will ever receive.
The Apostle Paul was a great teacher, maybe the best of all the Apostles. Yet he, by his admission, was not the most eloquent speaker. “Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge (2 Corinthians 11:6a ESV). As a teacher, how you say things is important, but never more so than what you say. Paul got his point across by staying on message with the simple Gospel message. Albert Einstein once said, “If you can’t explain it simply enough, you don’t understand it well enough.” Good teaching always takes complex things and explains them simply. I had some teachers, especially in college, who tried to take simple things and make them complex. Probably because they were trying to make themselves appear intelligent, instead of helping you be smarter.
There is a Bible college on the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts. They had a large, lighted Cross on the top of one of their buildings. During a financial crunch, the school decided to turn off the lights on the Cross to save money. The college received a call from the Boston airport asking them if they would please turn the lights on again. Airport officials explained that the planes landing at night were using the Cross as a navigational point. Without the lighted Cross, the pilots became disoriented and confused about finding their runway. There is a message for us in this story. We will always lose our way if we lose the light of the Cross and the simple Gospel message in our hearts.
Simplicity is always an asset not a detriment to your Christian walk.
Image used by permission from Microsoft.
Ken Barnes, the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places” YWAM Publishing and Broken Vessels through Kindle Direct Publishing.
Ken’s Website— https://kenbarnes.us/
Ken blogs at https://kenbarnes.us/blog/
Email- [email protected]
