Simplicity

“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” 2 Corinthians 11:3 NASB

A lot of times we view following Christ as a job, or as a list of rules or regulations to follow. When we view Christianity that way we begin to make it a religion about works and what you have or have not done. When we really need to view the Gospel from the simplistic view that it is given to us. That is, that Christ purchased you from the grave, through Him dying on the cross and suffering that separation from God so that you wouldn’t have to. He did it not so that you had to work to obtain it, nor did he do it so that he could set rules and regulations that you have to live by so that you would mess up. His sacrifice is a free gift, given to those who believe in faith that He died on the cross and was later raised from the dead to conquer death, and confess that they need a savior from their sins so that they might receive the reward of eternal salvation. When we look at the Gospel we see that its not about rules and regulations but about worship and devotion. That our obsession becomes God and in so doing we want to please our God and Father, when we want to please our parents we do what they tell us, because they know what’s best for us. When we want to please God we do what he tells us, not because lightning will strike us down if we don’t, but because we love God and in doing it we begin to worship Him and Honor him. So when it seems like everything gets really crazy in your life and you think that everything is a rule or a command, remember that Christianity is not about doing A and not doing B, but about how in love we are with God we want to Worship and Honor Him.

Knowing all of this we need to learn to live simply for Christ, and learn how to be like Christ. We need to live Selfless, Christ is our perfect example of how to live selfless. He never took anything from anyone, he lived in poverty, he served everyone that he could and he continually loved those that no one else would, we should try and live the same. We need to live Sacrificed, knowing that our lives were bought at the price of Christ’s life and in accepting Christ as our Savior we no longer live to our own desires we live to the desire of our King and Savior. We need to live Devoted, devoted to the King and His desires, we want to show our King how much we appreciate His sacrifice so we live for His glory, not our own.

  1. Why do you think people believe the Christianity is about rules and regulations?
  2. What do you think David meant when he said in Psalm 119:32 “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.”?
  3. Have you ever thought Christianity was about rules and commands? If so how did that affect your view of Christianity and of Christ?
  4. What do you have to look like, act like, or be like in order to be a Christian? Is there a rule you have to follow in order to become a Christian?
  5. How can you live more Selfless?
  6. How can you live more Sacrificed?
  7. How can you live more Devoted?