Simplicity: Something we all need in our cluttered lives. Listen to the God-inspired words of the Psalmist in 19:7 & 8, “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.”
I have underlined the words that describe God’s Word and the results of that Word of God. In the last phrase the word “pure” can also be translated “clear” and that same phrase lets us know that the Word gives direction to our lives. While the LORD Jesus spoke in parables and paradoxes, most of what He said is just plain practical!
Looking back into the Older Testament we find a portion of the Jewish Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”
Christopher J. H. Wright in his book, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, (Downers Grove, IL. IVP Academic , 1992, pp. 186-7) states of the Temptation of Christ (Mt. 4:1-11; Mk. 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13):
“So, in the temptation narrative we see Jesus using his Hebrew Bible to define and affirm the whole orientation of his life towards God. He was meditating on the section of Deuteronomy which ‘preaches’ the fundamental attitudes and commitments that God expects from his people as their side of the covenant relationship. These chapters of basic orientation come before the details of the laws themselves. God was concerned not about mere conformity to the laws, but about the whole shape of a person and society, the inner drives of the heart, the direction of the walk of life” (Underlining mine for emphasis).
When approached by a teacher/student of the Law and asked how to gain eternal life Jesus asked “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” to which the questioner replied by quoting the above text from Deuteronomy, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” Jesus responded, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live” (Lk. 10:25-28). This we know as the Great Commandment.
Christianity is a matter of the HEART! Jesus would begin the Sermon on the Mount with this truth: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt. 5:3). Biblical Christianity BEGINS with the realization that I am nothing without Christ. I am spiritually dead, blind, and damned without hope or means of doing anything about it. BUT GOD HAS provided the way through Christ.
Obedience without love is legalism! Love leading to obedience is Biblical Christianity. Late in His life here on earth Jesus turned to His disciples and stated something that disciples today must remember, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21).
Biblical Christianity is not difficult; for the Words of our LORD are clear! It is HARD because we battle ourselves to do the right thing! Total surrender (loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind) is the only way to truly be “Christian.”