I love my old truck. Old being 2003, bought new, a Ford Ranger Edge. I
wanted a simple, basic truck and that is what I got. The only concession to
luxury an automatic, due to prolonged driving in freeway traffic taxing my left
leg. But it has rubber floor mats, crank windows, and to adjust the outside
mirrors, I have to roll the windows down. All things that have broken on other
trucks I have owned....I just like simple. Maybe that is why I like my
Bonneville also, simple. Two cylinders, one front disc, and no bags, computers,
or extras. Everything I need, and nothing I don’t. So I can enjoy the ride
more. Same with my 1978 Suzuki, simple. I like things I don’t have to worry
about, things that don’t challenge me, and things I can enjoy. Life is so
complex today, I still seek a radio that only has on/off and volume. A TV with
only the old shows I watch, and my old LP’s. It seems technology is a good
thing, but for me it has just gone on too long. And entering into a
conversation the other night with three friends I was reminded of how complex
life has become. My grandfather born in 1905, pre Model T, grew up without
radio, TV, computers, cell phones, only the rich had phones, he walked
everywhere, and read by electric light, if he happened to live in a city. He
might have to hand pump his water, grow his own veggies, and his mother bake her
own bread. Wash by hand....I think you get the point. And he turned out OK,
today’s generation has never had a TV without a remote, a computer, cell phone.
Washers, like refrigerators are run by mother boards, telling them when to
change cycles, or when it gets too warm. Put a dial phone in front of them,
they cannot operate it, and wouldn’t know to dial the operator like we did for
help. 911 another thing they have never lived without. But another thing was
being discussed as I entered, the topic was scriptures, and arguing over
meaning. Maybe not an argument, but a heated discussion. And then I was
brought into it...
They were tripping over words, and not getting the context of the
scripture. And areas that didn’t have anything to do with Jesus. It had become
religious, and I pointed that out. These three men knew the Bible but were each
quoting it for their own edification. Or to win an argument. And when I
pointed it out, they agreed. You see, I like my religion simple. And religion
seems to add many unnecessary items to scripture. Or discount important ones.
If you have three ways to salvation, and I have four, my religion is better...an
emphatic no! Christianity is simple so I can get it, and free so I can afford
it. Jesus is the way. Period. One way. The truth. Not many truths to
satisfy your argument. And the life. He is life, without him you are
spiritually dead. Yet so many religious types today expound even more, and we
also discussed how you can take anything in the Bible out of context to satisfy
your sin. And many do, in fact we all do at one time or another. And with help
from the pulpit, denominational differences, and religious prejudices, somewhere
Jesus gets lost in the translation. Leave it to man and his pride, his ego to
make something like the gospel difficult, when Jesus makes it so easy.
God emphasizes to me the application rather than the education of
scripture. Today we have so many over educated Bible reading authorities, who
have no idea how it should be applied to life. Men and women who study
relentlessly, but don’t know the author of the Bible personally. Who wear out
the seat of their pants before they do the soles of their shoes. They are
locked into church, and are prisoners, they just don’t know it. They study to
find themselves approved, just not by God. They live the theory of
Christianity, they just don’t have the application to show for it. They are
missing the holy spirit in their lives. Religion has taken over, it can in any
denomination, or at any spiritual level, and they think knowledge is God. Maybe
a scripture for any situation, as long as it is controlled. But when out of
their peer group, they are lost and scared. Useless to show Jesus, as he is
strictly an intellectual exercise, rather than a personal one. They may
understand the widow giving two mites from an intellectual basis, but never have
seen her in action in their lives. They tithe, give when under guilt, and avoid
the spirit all they can. For the spirit brings liberty, and they are safe and
secure in their intellectual prison. So close, yet so far.
And so they argue rather than minister. They know scripture, they may even
be saved, they just don’t know Jesus. All about him, yet when Jesus talks about
the least of them, and if you minister to them you are doing it onto him, they
never have. Avoiding all interaction they are dead spiritually, while those who
live in the spirit enjoy the blessings. We see Jesus in the hard times, the
sick times, the times of unemployment. Of being on the street, outside the
church. They grasp the fact Jesus taught in the temple, they just fail to
recognize he ministered on the street. His friends were hookers, junkies,
bikers, and low lifes. Yet in their Pharisee way they don’t get it, and they
don’t get him. Study to find yourself approved, but not to be saved. Only
Jesus saves, which is only revealed by the Holy Spirit, and then backed up in
scripture.
So just like my roll up windows, and rubber floor, I like my religion
simple. It allows Jesus to take me deeper, rather than spread thin. Knowledge
may take you more places, but at a depth only a few inches deep. So keep it
simple, ask God what is his will, instead of arguing for your viewpoint. When
we see things through his eyes we see things how Jesus does. Uncomplicated,
simple, and to the point. So don’t let your religion become like your stereo or
car-over complicated. Maybe that old time religion was good enough for my
grandparents, so it should be good enough for me. There are no new revelations,
Jesus is still the way. He still forgives, he still loves, and he still offers
life. No amount of knowledge can pass for God’s grace. Whenever you get
religious you are drifting away from Jesus, the world has become complex, don’t
let your relationship with Jesus become the same. Jesus is the main thing,so
keep him the main thing. Joy and peace are simple concepts, don’t make them
difficult. And if you want to show God’s love, apply what the Word says rather
than studying it. And you will find something else I do when riding my
Bonneville, it is fun. And what good is fun if you don’t enjoy it? And as
Christians we should all have more fun than the world, we are going to heaven!
So rather than argue scripture, pray with your intellectual adversary. Let
God show how simple the gospel is, and how love covers all. Let the spirit
guide. Nobody wins an argument, to lose all you have to do is become involved.
Jesus never argued, how about that? He showed love, simply. By meeting needs
he showed who he was. Master, teacher, Lord, and savior. Life is tough, don’t
let it enter into being a Christian. Answer like the man who was given his
eyesight, “all I know is I was blind and now I see.” Only the spirit can remove
the scales from your eyes. Jesus saw the problem, and was the solution. No eye
exams, no studying to make sure his words were correct. No doctorate of
religion. No seminary or cemetery. He just healed and saved the man. For all
to see. What do people see in you, the sin or the savior? Education or
application? Jesus or ?
Only in the spirit will you ever be set free. Ask him today...his simple
answer may surprise you. And he writes it on your heart, not your i-pod.
Simple so I can get, free so I can afford it. Any questions?
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com