The Amish make beautiful furniture that is strong and sturdy, often without so much as one screw or nail. It’s amazing to me how they can put together a big dresser or bed frame or table with just dovetail joints and glue. Everything they make is beautifully simple.
IKEA on the other hand…
A few years ago I bought a rolling cabinet from IKEA that we use in our kitchen. We love it! It’s where we set our microwave and coffee maker and store all our coffee pods and dish towels. Considering what it’s made of (mostly particleboard), it has held up well.
But I swear to you: it must have come with over 400 tiny screws and parts!
It took me three evenings, working hours each evening, to put that little cart together. There were so many pages of instructions, so many illustrations and diagrams, it made me wonder if the person who designed it got paid by the number of parts.
A rolling kitchen cart shouldn’t require an engineering degree to put it together.
Sometimes we make things harder than they should be and introduce unnecessary difficulty into our lives.
Take marriage.
Marriage is a beautiful, God-designed union of two souls who leave their family of origin to create a new one. These two souls move towards one another and become “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).
With the divorce rate in America being what it is, many couples have soured on the idea of marriage and decided to live together instead. The U.S. marriage rate just recently hit an all-time low. Last year only 33.2 out of 1,000 unmarried adults got married. In 1970, that number was 86 out every 1,000 (Institute for Family Studies).
I won’t sugarcoat it: marriage is hard. But not that hard. And the secret to a good marriage is deceptively simple: love God, love your spouse and treat them the way Jesus treats us.
That’s Biblical.
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25).
“However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband” (Ephesians 5:33).
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).
I realize Peter isn’t talking about marriage in that last passage. But what he asks of us there is a summation of all that God asks us to do and be in our marriage.
Marriage is difficult and challenging but the secret to a good marriage is deceptively simple: love God, love your spouse, and treat them the way Jesus treats us. Anyone can do that.
I could give you example after example of how we make things more complicated than they really are.
Like discipleship.
Yes, being a Christian is challenging and difficult. It requires dedication and much sacrifice. But it’s not complicated.
Jesus said: “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Lk. 9:23).
1 Peter 2:21 says, “He [Christ] has left you an example that you might follow in His steps.”
And in 1 John 2:6 we read: “Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did.”
Follow Jesus. Take note of His example. Try to live like Him.
That’s simple enough for a child to understand. In fact, Jesus encourages us to “become like little children” (Matthew 18:3).
And what about evangelism?
I know that our current climate presents many challenges when it comes to sharing the Gospel. Yet, what did Jesus say? “Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest!” (Jn. 4:35).
Evangelism is difficult. It has never been complex.
If you have built up evangelism in your mind so that it seems like something reserved for “pro-level” disciples…stop! Evangelism is simple. Make a friend. Tell them what Christ has done for you. Explain to them how and why you became a Christian. Then walk with them on their journey to becoming a disciple, and love them all the way.
There are a number of things in life and in the church which we build up in our minds so that they become more complicated than they really are. All that does is increase our frustration and create discouragement.
Keep it simple.