Simplify VIII

Zech.8:¹⁷ (MSG) “…Keep your lives simple and honest…”

I have discovered in my years of pastoring that people like razzmatazz. Some other pastors have also discovered this and so they give people razzmatazz. I have had people accuse me of being too simple. For example, while I am having a telephone conversation with someone, I feel like God is leading me to tell him or her something. I just tell the person what God has impressed on my heart and I move on. Some people think that is not the way to go. They prefer I invite the person to my office, make the person kneel, and do the dramatic. Interestingly, it is the people that give people razzmatazz that people chase after and value what they say.

My advice to everyone is, take your eyes off the razzmatazz and focus on God. Human beings typically gravitate towards the complex and the confusing and leave the simple – where God is. Remember when God wanted to talk to Elijah? 1 kings 19:¹² (KJV) “And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” The scriptures say, “…people heap for themselves teachers because they have itchy ears” (2 Tim.4:3). They want to hear prophecies and God says, I will give you people that will be giving you prophecies. But that is not us in Jesus Name, We will follow God. Someone stumbled on a man that had been fasting without food for twenty-one days, he was almost dying. Out of concern, he confronted the man because he wanted to find out that the problem was. The man said a prophet told him that his sins were too many and for those sins to be forgiven, he has to fast for twenty-one days. So the believer told him, someone has already died for your sins and His name is Jesus. Guess what? The man was trying to convince him that the prophet was correct because his sins were plenty. And the believer said, “No! Just believe in Jesus and He will take away your sins”. “Is it that simple?” the man responded.

We would rather add works when Jesus says it is by faith. We would rather add works so that we can feel like we have done something. Stop bothering about the sacrifice you need to give. There is only one sacrifice that is valid, and it is the sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary done two thousand years ago for you and I. It is pure, valid, constant and it is consistent. When people refuse the light, they will be given over to darkness. You will not be given over to darkness, in the Name of Jesus.

Prayer: Father, empower me to be fair and just, compassionate and loyal, and not to take myself too seriously but to take God seriously, in Jesus Name. Amen!