KEEP IT SIMPLE

"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."   (2 Corinthians 11:3).

We humans often have the tendency to make things harder than they need to be.  It is often the simplest ways that are the best ways.  Christians especially are in danger of being beguiled by the devil's oldest temptation.  You see, it wasn't fruit that enticed Eve in the beginning, but the desire to possess the knowledge of good and evil.  To take matters into our own hands, to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, and to be like gods - this was Satan's fatal error, and he would like for it to be ours as well.

Adam and Eve had it easy.  They merely had to trust their heavenly Father, and receive from Him all that they needed to sustain their spiritual lives.  God worked for six days and rested the seventh.  Adam and Eve, however, were created on the sixth day, which made their first day of the week a day of rest.  God intended for man to enter into His rest and trust in His finished work.  Man feels he must work, though, in order to attain what God has already provided.  When the people asked Jesus what they needed to do to work the works of God, He told them, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom He hath sent."  (John 6:28,29)  It is not essential for us to focus on what God wants us to do until we have truly come to know who Christ is and placed our faith solely in Him!  When our faith aligns with God's Word, our actions will become natural, and not forced.  The Christian walk should not be contrived, but spontaneous.  Just as a natural spring gushes up from the ground, so should the life and love of Jesus flow out from us.

When we can forsake all of our formulas and our methods, and simply believe in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ, we will then experience the simplicity that is in Christ.  This was the thing that the apostle Paul desired for those whom he ministered the gospel to, and he feared that Satan's subtlety would corrupt their minds from that simple faith.   

There are two words that have been translated "simple" and "simplicity" in the King James Bible, and they express two very different meanings.  The one is the Hebrew word "pethiy," and is used widely in the Old Testament to describe one who is foolish or naive.  We are encouraged not to be simple in this way.  The other word is the Greek word "haplotes," and means singleness (of mind), sincerity, and mental honesty.  This is what Paul encourages us to be.

In Colossians 2:6, Paul writes, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him."  It can't get much simpler than that!  We received Christ by faith.  There was nothing we could do to obtain our salvation but believe - Christ had already done what was necessary.  Why, then, would we think that the rules are different for walking in Christ?  We must receive Christ by faith, we must put on Christ by faith, and we must walk in Christ by faith.  We cannot become more saved, or more righteous, by our own efforts - it is all part of the gift of God.  "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."  (Ephesians 2:8-10).

So, let's keep it simple.  God certainly didn't mean for it to be so complicated.  The gospel is simple enough that a child can understand it.  Jesus said of the children that came to Him, "Of such is the kingdom of God."  It would do us well to be much more childlike in our faith!

"For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward."  (2 Corinthians 1:12).