It's Not All That Complicated

“This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us” (I John 3:23).

There, my friend, are the facts of Christianity that matter the most. Yet, mankind in his wisdom continues to complicate the issues that are simple to know and understand.

Believe. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Next, love one another. I don’t believe that the Apostle John could write those words without remembering that night in the upper room. After the disciples were humbled beyond belief, by having their feet washed by their Teacher, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this will all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

In Matthew 23, a Jewish lawyer asked Jesus the following question, “Which is the Great Commandment in the Law?” To which, Jesus replied, “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 foremost commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 23:36-39).

In these two commandments, Jesus encapsulated the Ten Commandments. In loving God one fulfills the first four commandments, in loving one’s neighbor one fulfills the remaining six.

In Romans 13:10, the Apostle Paul said, “Therefore, love is the fulfilment of the Law.” He also echoed this sentiment in his first letter to Timothy, when he wrote, “The goal of our instruction is love…” (I Timothy 1:5).

All too many Christians feel the need to add stipulations to the straightforward and simple words of Jesus, the call to obey and the call to love.

My mind goes back to the time that Jesus told the crowd to love their neighbor and someone popped up, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). Jesus’ answer revealed that one’s neighbor is anyone within the sphere of one’s influence, even if that neighbor considers another their enemy.

Once again, I submit to you that life in Christ is not a “rocket science” exercise. Jesus words are simple and straightforward. He says what He means and He means what He says. John also echoed these words, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love, does not know God. For God is love” (I John 4:7-8).

My friends, though the words are simple, they will take a lifetime to master, because we do not, in ourselves, possess the capacity to do either. This we cannot do without the assistance of the Holy Spirit and the instruction of the Holy Word of God.

Permit me to share one more passage that tells us what it is that God requires of His children, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

The Christian life is far more than the reciting of creeds. The Christian life is one of action. The Apostle Paul put it this way, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am an imitator of Christ” (I Corinthians 11:1).

To be like Jesus, that is the Christian’s ultimate goal. “But we all, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (II Corinthians 3:18).