Simple

Simple. I don’t know about you, but I like things when they are simple. Like instructions on putting something together or directions on how to get somewhere. I like books that are simple to read and don’t take a lot of brain power to understand. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I like things that are challenging too, but there are times when simple is just better. The Bible can be both simple and difficult at the same time.

The Gospel message is simple to understand: we are sinners that need a Savior in the person of Jesus Christ. There are parts of the Bible, like the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation, that can be very difficult to understand because of all the symbolism. Imagine living in the times of the Old Testament and having to live under the Law. There were thousands of things that you could and could not do. Who could remember them all? The point was you couldn’t, that’s why we need a Savior.

The New Testament makes it pretty simple for the Christian to abide by. Jesus narrows it down to just two rules: “‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.’” - Matthew 22:36-40.

That’s how simple it is to be a Christian: love God and love your neighbor!  That’s it!  It doesn’t tell us to choose who to love out of all the people, it doesn’t tell us to love people that think and believe like we do, and it doesn’t tell us to love people that look like us; it tells us to love our neighbor. When we love others like Christ loves us, we are never more like Him then at that moment. Jesus loved all of the people that society thought were unloveable: the tax collectors, the adulterous, the sick and the lame. He loved them because He knew His Father loved them.

Have you loved your neighbor today?  The neighbor that doesn’t believe the same things you do?  The neighbor that doesn’t look like you do?  The neighbor that doesn’t go to the same “church” you do?  God loves them, so should you.

Have a great day and God bless.