Keep It Simple

"Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Luke 18:17

I've been chewing on this verse this week.  It is especially relevant to me now because my daughter is getting to the age where we have deeper conversations about faith than just naming the animals on Noah's Ark.  During the Christmas season, I started reading Matthew with her.  Not every night, and we haven't gotten very far, but I've already been amazed.  One night we were in chapter 6, talking about storing up treasures in Heaven.  While I was explaining to her what that meant, she got very upset because she thought I was going to give all her stuff away and she was especially worried about her clothes.  Clothes are very important when you're 5, apparently.  Then we continue on and a few verses later it specifically says not to worry about what you will wear.  It's so simple but she thought that was super cool, and it was the most special thing to see how the Bible can be living and active to a little girl just like it is to me. 

I'm not sure how I got started, but I read a lot of Christian blogs.  Probably because I joined Twitter and didn't know what to do with it, so I picked a bunch of Christian authors to follow and every time I get on there I spend 2 hours following links they post.  Anyway, that's not really the point.  The point is, while most of what I read is encouraging and challenging and wonderful, it makes my brain hurt sometimes.  They use words like hermeneutics, exegesis, egalitarianism, and dispensational pre-millenialism (okay, that one's actually from my Revelation study).  Know who didn't use big words?  Jesus.  Jesus is "follow me", "love your neighbor", "don't worry", and "once upon a time, there was a shepherd who lost his sheep".  He spoke in an accessible way, so that not just the seminary graduate would understand his teachings, but everyone who heard him.  It makes me wonder if we've overcomplicated faith in Jesus to a ridiculous degree.  Don't get me wrong, I think studying scripture and gaining greater understanding of God are good things, but do we reach a point where we are missing the forest for the trees?  As I read recently, "It is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless the hearers find God in personal experience they are not the better for having heard the truth."  (A.W. Tozer)