Keep things simple
It’s so easy to over-complicate things. It’s so easy to make the Christian Faith so complicated… by putting conditions, ways, rules on church, issues, things that we don’t fully understand – we wrap up in complicated discussions and arguments . We try to justify our “point of view” or our “opinion” and life gets full of head issues!Jesus kept things simple, e.g.:
Follow Me
Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you
Abide in me and I in you and you will bear much good fruit
Do to others as you would have them do to you
I am with you always – to the end of the age.
Why is it that we read in to things, motives behind what others say, or do?
God gave simple instructions in Micah 6: 8
“He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?”
Simple – do this and live!!
Look at them in reverse:
1. Walk humbly with your God –what does it mean to walk humbly?
Not being proud or arrogant – but accepting God’s opinion of us!
Simply put it means believing, saying, doing what God says… what He says about you – you are loved – I believe it, You are worth dying for – I believe it,
Called, precious, able, strong, filled with His power….
As we live out of what God says about us we simply become those shining lights that shine in a dark world… just live out of His Word.
2. Love mercy – well that’s easy – we all love mercy we need it so much – for God to be merciful with us – full of loving kindness and kind in His dealings with us – wonderful …”chessed” (Hebrew).
His mercy drew us to Him, gave us His grace and helped us come through… and does when we fall. Full of mercy – so kind. But what about us – do we love to be merciful to others….or are we quick to get our penny’s worth of revenge? When they said the wrong thing, didn’t do or live out of our expectation of them… are we merciful to them, or do we slate them (maybe not always to their face) for forgetting, doing it again, not considering you, critical of them? Do you judge them on their appearance their fumbled words, have we presumed?
What about people who seem to have it all together? They also need mercy! Sometimes we overlook the needs of people we presume are ok. We are quick to criticise and presume, without looking below the surface. We miss out on the blessing of being merciful, because of assumptions. John 13: when the world sees the love we have for one another, they are drawn to Jesus.
God wants us to LOVE mercy – the giving of mercy as well as wanting to be on the receiving end all the time. Consider it!
3. Do justly… do the right thing … and like mercy we so want to be justified ourselves. We want to have justice when wronged, make sure people know we were in the right, we didn’t say, do etc… But what about the giving of justice. Do we want to we do what Jesus would do – love, forgive, bear with one another, be kindly gracious with one another, forgive one another? Or do we always want to be putting them right, interfering with the mercy and grace. Yes there is a place and time for correction from others… but consider this – why do we make it hard for one another to find the grace of God and the mercy of God in each other’s lives by criticism, judgement, presumption?
So; why not de-clutter your faith, according to Micah 6 v 8? You’ll find your life, relationships and walk with God go a whole lot better!
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A story used to illustrate mercy:
He was kind of scary. He sat there on the grass with his cardboard sign, his dog (actually his dog was adorable) and tattoos running up and down both arms and even on his neck. His sign proclaimed him to be “stuck and hungry” and to please help.
I’m a sucker for anyone needing help. My husband both hates and loves this quality in me.
I pulled the van over and in my rear-view mirror, contemplated this man, tattoos and all. He was youngish, maybe forty. And he wore one of those bandannas tied over his head, biker/pirate style. Anyone could see he was dirty and had a scraggly beard. But if you looked closer, you could see that he had neatly tucked in the black T-shirt, and his things were in a small, tidy bundle. Nobody was stopping for him. I could see the other drivers take one look and immediately focus on something else – anything else.
It was so hot out. I could see in the man’s very blue eyes how dejected and tired and worn-out he felt. The sweat was trickling down his face. As I sat with the air-conditioning blowing, the scripture suddenly popped into my head. “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, so ye have done it unto me.” I reached down into my purse and extracted a ten pound note. My twelve year old son, Nick, knew right away what I was doing.
“Can I take it to him, Mum?”
“Be careful, honey,” I warned and handed him the money. I watched in the mirror as he rushed over to the man, and with a shy smile, handed it to him. I saw the man, startled, stand and take the money, putting it into his back pocket. “Good,” I thought to myself, “now he will at least have a hot meal tonight.” I felt satisfied, proud of myself. I had made a sacrifice and now I could go on with my errands.
When Nick got back into the car, he looked at me with sad, pleading eyes.
“Mum, his dog looks hot and the man is really nice.” I knew I had to do more. “Go back and tell him to stay there, that we will be back in fifteen minutes,” I told Nick. He bounded out of the car and ran to tell the tattooed stranger. We then ran to the nearest shop and bought our gifts carefully. “It can’t be too heavy,” I explained to the children. “He has to be able to carry it around with him.” We finally settled on our purchases. A bag of dog food, a flavoured chew toy shaped like a bone; a water dish, bacon flavoured snacks (for the dog); two bottles of water (one for the dog, one for Mr. Tattoos); and some snacks for the man.
We rushed back to the spot where we had left him, and there he was, still waiting. And still nobody else was stopping for him. With hands shaking, I grabbed our bags and climbed out of the car, all four of my children following me, each carrying gifts. As we walked up to him, I had a fleeting moment of fear, hoping he wasn’t a serial killer.
I looked into his eyes and saw something that startled me and made me ashamed of my judgment. I saw tears. He was fighting like a little boy to hold back his tears. How long had it been since someone showed this man kindness? I told him I hoped it wasn’t too heavy for him to carry and showed him what we had brought. He stood there, like a child at Christmas, and I felt like my small contributions were so inadequate. When I took out the water dish, he snatched it out of my hands as if it were solid gold and told me he had no way to give his dog water. He gingerly set it down, filled it with the bottled water we brought, and stood up to look directly into my eyes. His were so blue, so intense an my own filled with tears as he said, I don’t know what to say.” He then put both hands on his bandanna-clad head and just started to cry. This man, this “scary” man, was so gentle, so sweet, so humble.
I smiled through my tears and said, “Don’t say anything.” Then I noticed the tattoo on his neck. It said “Mama tried.”
As we all piled into the van and drove away, he was on his knees, arms around his dog, kissing his nose and smiling. I waved cheerfully and then fully broke down in tears.
I have so much. My worries seem so trivial and petty now. I have a home, a loving husband, and four beautiful children. I have a bed. I wondered where he would sleep tonight.
My step-daughter turned to me and said in the sweetest little-girl voice, “I feel so good.”
Although it seemed as if we had helped him, the man with the tattoos gave us a gift that I will never forget. He taught that no matter what the outside looks like, inside each of us is a human being deserving of kindness, of compassion, of acceptance. He opened my heart
Tonight and every night I will pray for the gentle man with the tattoos and his dog. And I will hope that God will send more people like him into my life to remind me what’s really important.