Why is it that we are all so good at making things more complicated than they really need to be? I think that is a human specialty. We are so challenged by simplicity that they've made "Dummies Guides" to everything imaginable. They have condensed conferences and simplified seminars so that you can do nearly anything in a minimal number of short, easy steps. The infamous "How To..." books dominate our libraries. And yet I think that all these techniques make things trickier than they ought to be. The "Dummies Guides" only serve to dumb us down more.
Serving God is a simple thing. Often enough the big impediments in our service for Him is sorting out what His will actually is amidst all the confusion of techniques, steps, strategies, and philosophies. In Mark 12:13-40 several people approached Jesus trying to trip Him up with silly questions. Jesus was very pointed in His answers. In fact, He came very close to actually calling the Sadducees ignorant people. The only one that did not get rebuked by Christ was the Scribe for the Scribe was, at heart, a genuine truth-seeker.
But do we really understand the thrust of the answer Christ gave? We often claim that there is no greater thing than evangelism, holiness, bible-reading, serving, etc. and for all of this we get a chorus of "amens." But in reality Jesus kept it simple and said that the greatest thing was for us to love Him. Love is the greatest thing around. To quote Lennon, "all you need is love."
We love to study the Word of God, but what of the Author, do we love Him? A disciplined life can lead to holiness. But the point of holiness is not some dry ritual but rather a fervent passion, a love for God so great that one doesn't want to see Him hurt. Sometimes I wonder why I chose to come to a Bible College. Was it because of the academics and the education? Was it because of my parents and the heritage that is linked with all of that? Or is it because I love God?
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