Simplicity

I wish my desk in the study was a tidy space, but it’s not! It's messy, busy and full of lots of scribbles. There are post-it notes and torn scraps of paper that capture whimsical reflections for a future day. This clutter and my journal scribbles are some of my thinking places.

I’m a fan of a ‘big tidy’ every few months despite my wife Julie espousing a more regular and tidier way. And that’s where I make the connection. Life with God doesn’t have to be like my messy desk. It’s not meant to be a complex way, but one of simplicity. Thomas Kelly spoke of the God who “never guides us into an intolerable panting feverishness.” For the finished work of Jesus makes for simplicity and quiet trust. We are invited into this rest and simplicity. I want this more.  

There is a blessed simplicity for the Christian who is assured of the unconditional love of God in Christ. For “the eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms!” In times of unrelenting weariness and apparent endless complexity, we long to live simply in heart and mind. Don’t we ache for this? To be able to sleep soundly knowing that your heavenly Father never does? Christ at work in us makes for this more excellent way.

The pursuit of simplicity is forever rooted in the gospel. Unless we truly know there is nothing left to prove before God because of the completeness of Jesus, then we spend our lives in endless self-justification. Unless we know that God has fully loved us in Jesus, we will spend our lives endlessly seeking safety and advancement. Unless we trust that God is sovereign overall, we will easily get mangled by anxiety and circumstance.

In the gospel, God guides us into simplicity. We journey into the rest of God. We have the example of this way from Jesus, who made it His practice to simplify many things for His followers. He simplified prayer for the disciples in Luke 11 when they observed His choices and ways. He called them into habits that would form their lives, beginning with an enduringly simple pattern of prayer. At another time, Jesus was confronted with the overly complex system of the law that had been increased over many hundreds of years. When asked about the greatest commandment of the multitude, He summed up the entire law in a few sentences: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command.” Or the time when Jesus summed up the many complexities that increase anxiety in our days. We worry about our future, our money, our clothes and our future: and Jesus resolves it all in simplicity. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you!”

Ironically the simplicity of Jesus is precisely what could cause us to stumble over Him or at least shuffle past on the other side. When we come face to face with something so straight-forward, we hardly can let ourselves quite believe it. We want to look for the trickery in the fine print. Despite our longing for simplicity, we keep on choosing muddled ways and cluttered desks.

The main thing about being a Christian is to see that the main thing remains the main thing. Over a lifetime. As months and years click by, I have observed faith becoming unnecessarily complicated. Complexity is always a sign that there is drift. The world around us is getting increasingly complex, and it is because it is drifting farther and farther from God.

There is infinite variety in the goodness of spring and in wildflowers. You can see this everywhere. God basically is simple. Nature consistently advertises the inestimable beauty of the simplicity of God's design. The seasons enduringly repeat themselves without fail.

You and I can lose ‘pure and simple devotion’ in the way that God desires. You and I can lose it in the midst of aspiration and activity. You and I can lose it in the pressures of daily living. We can get so anxious, busy, and distracted that we lose the sense that Christ is with us, and He is our enough. If you are feeling pressed in on by the complexity of the world today, come back again to what you know is true… and breathe. Return to the beautiful simplicity that is found in Jesus. 

Discernment is not the difference between good and bad, but between the good and nearly good. We can lose simplicity in much and many things. For it is Jesus that promises, “His yoke is easy and burden light” and so when the burden feels too heavy it’s probably because we are carrying a load unintentionally or inadvisedly.

Are you getting side-tracked by the superficial and secondary? Do you need to return to the remarkable simplicity of the gospel? History records CH Spurgeon’s deathbed conversation with some of his final visitors. “As time has passed on, my theology has grown more and more simple. It is simply this, ‘Jesus loves me!'”  

I love that. I love this not only because it is true, but because it is accessibly simple.

Pure and simple devotion.

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