We often make life more
difficult than it needs to be. We do the same thing with our faith.
Christianity, it seems to me, is simple. I don’t mean anything derogatory by
that. I mean that Christianity needs to be simple because it is meant to be
lived. I once saw a sign on someone’s office wall: “Nothing is as simple as it
seems. That is because nothing is simple, and nothing is as it seems.” I like
that because it is an interesting bit of wordplay, and it does seem to have the
ring of truth to it.
We live in a complex world
where solutions to most problems are anything but simple. Someone lingers for
years with a debilitating illness. There is no simple explanation for a thing
like that. Parents who have raised their child without any real thought or plan
and worse yet, without consistency, may one day discover that their child has
done something beyond the limits of social acceptability. They rush to the counsellor
wanting a quick fix—a simple remedy—to a problem that has taken fifteen years
to develop.
There is violence in the
world, and crime, and senseless destruction of people and property. There is no
simple way to get a handle on these things. Don’t be naive. Simple solutions
are few and far between. We also live in a world where few things are as they
seem. We go to great lengths to appear to be something we are not. We want to
look richer and smarter than we are. The marketing specialists push new
products that bear little likeness to the items we cart home from the store. We
are masters of disguise. Life is such that when we do stumble onto something
that is simple, we are likely to overlook it or dismiss it as ridiculous.
So, I return to the thought
that Christianity is simple. God loves us. God sent his Son to us. God’s saving
grace in Jesus Christ is sufficient. There are complex problems in the world,
and to seek simple answers to them is naive. But it is just as foolish to seek
complex answers when simple ones will suffice. In Hebrew scripture there is a
valuable jewel which answers I believe what our God calls us to be and the way
Jesus showed us by practice in his life. The Hebrew Scripture of Micah 6: 8 tells
us:
“He has shown you, O mortal,
what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love
mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Let’s “unpack that” (a
pretentious little phrase I learned in my studies over the years – it means
what I want to pass on about the subject here). Let us take a closer look at
what God wants/requires from us. Let’s also look at what is not mentioned. The
church doesn’t have a monopoly on justice, mercy, humility, or love. You can
have them too—and probably already do. Three things—that’s all God gives us
here. God says not to worry about fatted calves, turtle doves and buckets full
of oil. These things are meaningless and certainly not “required.”
God wants us to act justly,
but not in the worldly sense of justice. You do something bad and you get
punished. That’s retributive justice—the flavour of justice that about 99.9 percent
of the world is interested in including many who call themselves Christian.
This does not interest our God. God is more interested in restorative
justice—being redeemed and made whole, putting broken things back together
again. This is the kind of acting justly that God wants to see us bring about,
and to see happen. How do we not punish, but, rather, fix and make whole again?
An interesting question I will leave you to reflect on and comment on sometime in
the future.
Then God goes on to remind us
that we are to love mercy. Notice that God does not just tell us to do mercy,
but to love it. Mercy, compassion, love (words I have often used over the last
year which seems to be a theme as we face the world as it is at this time — these
are the hallmarks of how we are called to be living our lives and that with
which we need to be desperately filling our hearts and minds with.
And yet, our God calls us to
walk humbly with him. I find that I am moved deeply by how the verse tells us
to walk with (not in front, not behind, not forcing etc. but with), to be in
relationship. For me this is at the core of God’s desire: to be in relationship
together. I think walking humbly with God also means that, over time, we find
ourselves caring about others more and more and ourselves less and less. We
find ourselves willing to be selfless more and more. This is not telling us about
thinking less of ourselves but it’s about putting more and more time into the
love and care of others.
To come back to simplicity of
message let us begin to see the reasonableness of at least giving this style of
life a try. Never withhold a word of encouragement. The final turning point is
our decision to accept what God offers. Are we able to always accept what God offers?
Always do what God suggests. Nothing is as simple as it seems. Not true. The
miracles of faith and of a Christian life lived out by the grace of God are
certain and available to every one of us. Trust in God. It sounds too simple.
Still, trust in God.
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