It's
amazing when you think about it... 100 years ago life was simple, people had
plenty of time, families ate at the dinner table together, but they lacked
all the modern conveniences we have today. Today, we have
mass-transit, cars, cellphones, microwaves, you name
it... but people have no time for anything. What a paradox! I
bought a digital phone/answering machine the other day for $28. The
instruction book is a mile long. Where do people get the time to read
all this stuff?
I handed it to my 17 year old son and asked him if he'd set it up, and he did. The instruction booklets are getting longer and longer, and contain less and less English! I dread buying anything anymore because I know it'll take several hours to figure out. I like simple things. I went to buy a musical amplifier for my Hawaiian steel guitar. The man at the music store showed me a digital amplifier with several sub-layers of special effects, and more buttons than I cared to count. The instructions looked like a phone book. I told him I just wanted a small amp with a few knobs I could reach over and turn. So that's what I got.
I couldn't help but think that so many people nowadays complicate the Christians life in the same way. Many churches have all the fancy buttons, lights, and looks; but they have lost the simplicity of the Gospel. 2nd Corinthians 11:3, "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." Dr. R.G. Lee said, "If we emphasize little the old familiar notes of Calvary, of hell, of sin ... we sound our death knell, dig our grave, write our epitaph." So true! We hear much talk nowadays about giving our life to Jesus, receiving Jesus, and trusting Jesus; BUT, we hear very little about the GUILT of sin, about the condemnation of God's Law upon sinners, about the sinfulness of sin.
In Romans 7:13 the Apostle Paul states "...that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." Churches have lost this today. Most of America's so-called "churches" are nothing more than glorified social clubs, where a shallow gospel is preached, people are not saved, and there is no guilt over sin. Romans 3:19 states, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Without the Law of God, there can be NO salvation.
Would to God that churches today would get back to the basics of the Christian life--the simply things. The average church today is more concerned about the upcoming music concert, ladies retreat, or ministerial conference. What about the Law? What about Hell? What about the blood of Jesus? What about repentance? What about soulwinning? The average believer today is so preoccupied listening to prerecorded music that they no longer walk with God. The average believer today is so caught up in so-called "Christian" magazines and books that they no longer walk with God. Unbelievably, many believers have been INOCULATED from the Christian life.
Simple things. God intended for life to be simple, amidst the complicated stormy winds and waves of life. Thank God, Salvation is simple. Here is a photo that I took at Fort Soledad on the island of Guam...
