Busy. Look at your calendar. You're either free or you're busy. The opposite of busy is free. Jesus Christ came to set you free, not to set you busy. If you're busy, you're not free. You're in bondage. Maybe you don't even realize it.
I'm sorry.
I really am.
Mostly because you're in bondage to a lie anyway. Being busy means all your time is used up by something. But all of everybody's time is used up by something. The truth is you always make time for the people and things you want to and are not afraid of. Everything else is just BS.
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It's amazing to me the difference between my American lifestyle and the lifestyle of the people of northern Laos.
Their lives are spent making cotton thread, weaving skirts and sashes, carving teak bowls, harvesting and threshing rice, drying tobacco and hot peppers in the sun, walking to market, selling some string beans, cooking sticky rice, lighting the fire, cooking dinner. Tomorrow it's about the same. Simple is the word. Uncomplicated. Unencumbered. And the kingdom reaches their hearts so easily.
My life is spent scraping my car windows, going to "worship team" practice, updating my budget with my online checking account, getting tires put on my daughter's car, Christmas shopping (in the next week alone, I'll spend double what most Lao families make in a year), organizing my garage, washing my cars, going to social event after social event. Complexity is the word. Layer upon layer. So many layers that the light of the kingdom can not penetrate the depths and reach our hearts.
Complexity is of the devil. Simplicity is of God.
Ok. I'm in. Simplicity (or singleness or sincerity) is a better way to live. But what of God putting Adam and Eve in a garden and telling them to refill the earth, conquer it, and rule over it? In Revelation, there is this city of God talked about. A city is more complex than a garden in several ways. And it almost seems like God is implying something like, "Ok, I gave you a garden to start with, and I want you to make it into a city." Kind of like the story Jesus told about the guys with the talents who somehow made a return on the investment while their master was away.
I guess I'm wondering, apart from the business associated with complexity and the rigidity it necessarily brings, is there something else inherently evil about complexity?
One thing I realized a few years ago is how much the devil loves rules and structures. He loves anything to get organized because then all he has to do is work the system to his advantage. It's how he killed Jesus when direct confrontations with Jesus backfired. It's like people give themselves over to these complex institutions or systems of thought with their rules for the sake of "the common good", and then the devil works it all for "the common evil". As an example: social boundaries between men and women for the sake of "keeping everything on the level". The devil uses this established social more to prevent sincere, simple communication and fellowship, sometimes leading to misunderstanding, doubt, or relational schisms. Or worse, upon simple contact, he whispers that there is some game or banter going on and spins it into an affair. There are thousands more examples, but this one is good because it shows how the complexities really can be very intangible. It's not just about the complexity that comes with an advanced society or economy. Jesus, on the other hand, just said, "Love one another" and didn't break it down into male and female, man, woman, or child, slave or free, day or night, group or individual, public or private.
I'll not even get into church policies and best practices. Oh my. And I think it's really obvious the dilemmas associated with various contracts--legal, financial, social, interpersonal, etc.
I just wonder if complexity is ever good.
I have to make a distinction between complexity and variety. They are two completely different things.
God is the very author of variety, and it delights him to no end to create subtle differences and one-of-a-kind qualities in a thing he has created.
But in terms of a system, anything from how a church is governed to agricultural systems to manufacturing to social organisms, complexity is akin to arrogance. It leads to specialization and stratification. Which leads to heirarchy and dominance and inequity. And it goes downhill from there.
Complex systems are not adaptable. They don't travel well. Fancy factories are not built in Africa because they are not sustainable. Large churches are not sustainable because they are too complex.
House churches, the degree to which they can drive complexity out of their system, have a better chance of being sustainable. The longer relationships last, the more susceptible they are to the introduction of complexity.
I ask nothing of you, and you ask nothing of me. I give you everything, and you give me everything. Simple.
God has given us everything that those around us need from us. We don't need more preparation, more training, more practice. We don't need to be more sophisticated. We simply have to look around and ask, what do I have to give? and then give it.
Faith isn't complex. It isn't even nuanced. It's basic, elemental, simple. It's rudimentary. It isn't smart, isn't trained, isn't intelligent. And as a result it is easiest to see in those who have emptied themselves of all complexity (and nuance, and intelligence, etc.). And busy-ness.
"Except you become like a little child, you won't enter the kingdom."
Complexity is an illusion produced by a late viewing of a situation. It invites arrogance and judgment. Simplicity is the true view of something that disregards appearance. It invites humility and trust.
I’ve been thinking about complexity being akin to arrogance, and here’s the pathway I’ve found between the two.
Complexity is a top-down view of things. It assumes that someone sits in a high place and views things as a system. A genius looks down on a complex math problem and sorts it out in his head, making judgments about the best way to segregate it into parts logical to him. Then he uses specialized constructs to solve each part, and finally reduces it down to an obvious, single, simple answer.
A chess master does the same thing with a board, reducing a vast array of complex permutations, making value judgments, until he arrives at one simple move. Pawn to queen’s third.
A social engineer or economist does the same thing with people. “A king may move a man” says King Baldwin IV in Kingdom of Heaven.
We were driving to see the Chronicles of Narnia last week. Opening day. My son said, “Here’s another Main Street. How come there are so many Main Streets?” This is a perplexing thing to him, and it is a question of privilege. He is allowed this question because he lives in a time of networks of highways slashing through the metroplex to make every location accessible by a variety of paths. The truth is, on a single outing he might very well encounter several Main Streets. And he might even draw the conclusion that someone at once sat enthroned above the metroplex and rolled out the highways like a chess master planning his end game. But Main Streets don’t come into being this way. Main Streets come about the simple way, not the complex way. The people who live in a community realize the need for a road, build it, and because of it’s central importance to the community call it Main. Simple. And when the traffic between cities gets too voluminous for the highway system, they build or expand to accommodate. Simple. My son was making a bad assumption about the origin of things, and that’s easy to do when you encounter variety late in the game.
When you encounter variety late in the game, it looks like complexity.
King Baldwin IV continued with something profound, some counsel he took from God himself. “But remember that, even when those who move you be kings or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God you cannot say ‘but I was told by others to do thus’ or that ‘virtue was not convenient at the time’. This will not suffice. Remember that.” Virtue is simple. Not easy. Simple.
Living the way of Jesus is simple. And it is humble. For example, Jesus said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Jesus said, just take care of now. Don’t look at tomorrow and the next day and the next week and plan your life. Just do today. Live now. Do what is good today. Trust God. Tomorrow is a dream. Or a nightmare. It’s just something to worry about. The word Jesus used when said “Don’t worry” literally means “Don’t analyze it, breaking it down into parts, sorting it out to promote your own interests.” And the very next words out of Jesus mouth were…
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” And here is the connection. When I see myself as one suited for handling complexity, in other words, one suited to worry, I see myself as one who sits in judgment, as one who sits on top looking down, as one who is arrogant. But when I see myself as one suited for living simply, in other words, one suited to trust God’s way, I see myself as one living under God, as one under others, as one under my environment, as one who is humble.
The reason complex systems don’t travel well is because complexity breeds complexity. As a computer programmer I once worked in the corporate office of a temporary staffing company who subcontracted temporary workers out to another temporary staffing company who contracted them to a manufacturer who made parts that they sold to another company to make components that they sold to another company to make a product that they sold to a distributor that they sold to a wholesaler that they sent on a truck with other company’s products to a retailer that they sold to a customer. Imagine all the complexities involved to make it possible for me to take a bounteous salary and still allow everyone along the way to make a profit and the consumer to buy the product for a reasonable price. Now imagine me trying to show up anywhere else in the world and say, “Here I am. I have come to do your computer programming.” Multiple pockets of complexity are required to sustain that system. But here’s the kicker. It didn’t grow that way. It grew one day at a time when one person at a time saw a gap and filled it. And she did it simply, or it didn’t work. Again, it only appears complex when you arrive late and attempt to sit in judgment over it.
Jesus is the great unraveler. One time there were these people caught in adultery, and by the time they got to Jesus the Rabbi, there was already an angry mob, they had judged the complexities of the situation, decided that it’s this one woman who was guilty (what happened to the other party?), sentenced her to death, picked up stones to execute her, and then put it to Jesus, “The law says…now what do you say?” In other words, judge this situation! Deal with this complexity! Jesus (wow) simply bent down and wrote in the dirt. He saves her by commanding that whoever of them was not a “sinner” could cast the first stone. One by one they leave, and then Jesus tells her that the people didn’t judge her, and neither would he. Then he simply says this, “Go and sin no more.” Jesus just makes it really simple. Guys, this is situation is not complex, requiring any of us to know law or even nuances of it. It’s simple. It’s just sin. Don’t do that. Choose to do good. Each of you. Today. Simple.
And if you live that way, you will be free. Not busy.
Wow! What a relevant and pithy comment. So illuminating.
I hope they read the thread. Probably didn't have time though.
The only thing I can think of off the top of my head that is complex about God is creation.
Several months ago I went and heard a Christian scientist give an intelligent design talk at a local church.
He went through three examples of our design:
(1) the chemical reactions at the molecular and chemical level that go on in the human eye during the change of focus from something nearby to something far away. He got into talking about exchange levels of calcium di-whatever-ide and all these other substances, and the miraculous process involved in the process of eye focus.
(2) the process of a blood clot forming (and unforming). There are thirteen distinct chemical reactions, which must occur in a certain order 1-13, in order for a blood clot to form if we have a cut on our body, to have the bleeding stop. If one of the steps is skipped or misfires, a clot doesn't form. Then, once the clot has done it's job, those same thirteen steps must occur, again exactly in reverse order, in order for the clot to go away and not float elsewhere in the body to cause an aneurism.
I can't remember the third thing he covered, but it was yet another highly complex function with chemical and sequential order...and like the other two was something we seldom stop to think how miraculous it is. It's just something we take for granted, though it truly is a miracle.
Aside from creation and the physical world we live in, God is simple.
For months I have been frustrated when thinking of American society, and its influence to twist Truth in the American Body.
It seems American Christianity is wrapped up in a PR campaign for Jesus. Be a warm, positive, upbeat witness for Jesus. People will be drawn to your integrity. Etc, etc, etc.
I just this last week was reminded by Jesus:
"All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." (Mark 13:13)
"If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." (John 15:19)
Reading this really convicted me, and made me think how much teaching and ambition there is in the American Body to be liked and embraced. "Lifestyle evangelism" is a term that is preached heavily by the pastor at the church I attend. In fact, he has gone so far in the last five months as to say "lifestyle evangelism is the ONLY way to win souls to Jesus".
This really grated against my spirit when he said that. Why? Cause it's not true.
The gospel in America has become too much a gospel of words and not a demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2:4-5).
The concept behind "lifestyle evangelism" is to make a friend, earn their trust, then when you have their trust as a friend they will be open to the message of the Gospel.
Does this work? Yes. Is it one way souls can be won to Jesus? Yes. Is it the only way? Absolutely not.
I was at a local mall a few months ago, and I saw a woman approaching who had one leg shorter than the other. She had a very sour look on her face, and I sensed it came from pain in her leg or back due to her shortened leg. I was trying to get a sense from the Holy Spirit if I should talk to the woman. I sensed I was to have, and then by the time I weighed it and pondered it more she was gone.
Maybe the Lord had simply wanted me to encourage her. Maybe it was just to say something witty to make her smile for a moment.
Maybe He would have had me sit her down on the bench nearby in the mall walkway, and call on the name of Jesus and she and I watch her leg grow to equal length right before our eyes.
Had He wanted to do this latter action, would I have had to engage "lifestyle evangelism" with this lady?
No. I would have had instant credibility with her as knowing the Creator and Messiah of this universe. The kingdom of God would have shown itself right to her, live and in miraculous person. She would have been all ears about Jesus and her soul if she were not already a Follower.
I have a very strong disdain for canned-text witnessing. We've all seen and heard it, the Four Step plan: We're all sinners, we can't save ourselves, God made a way, accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior.
I'm not knocking witnessing. I'm knocking being methodical, repetitive, in-a-rut about witnessing.
The truth is, every heart and every person is different. Variety, as Jon mentions.
The Bible says that some come by fear and some come by mercy (Jude 23).
If I apply some canned-text method in witnessing to someone about Jesus, I am exercising a religious ceremony in trying to win their soul to the Lord. This is no more effective, nor scorned by God, than heartless regurgitations spouted in a dead denomination church service.
When I witness, I must seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. How do I know that person A needs to be snatched from the fire, but person B needs to be shown mercy? (referring back to Jude 23 verse)
If apply the 4 Steps to Salvation methodically, I might turn one or both of them off to wanting to hear more about Jesus. I will have done this in His Name. I will have told Him I was doing it to increase and advance the kingdom of God.
If I were to do this, His heart would break and He would just be shaking His head. I'd come to Him all smiley faced, saying "Look, Lord! Look what I did in Your name! I witnessed for You!!!"
Then Jesus would say "Depart from me. I never knew you." (Matthew 7:21-23)
These verses in Matthew should be shouted from the rooftops to all Followers. These verses strike the fear of God in me, a constant reminder that my actions, my witness need to be prompted and led by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14).
If I am led by the Spirit, then my witnessing will be right on the mark for that particular person. When it's right on the mark, it will bear good fruit, which means I am locked into Jesus (John 15:4)--not locked into myself or some man-made Christian methodology, which is worthless (John 15:5, Matt 7:19) and a stench to the noses of Father and Jesus.
Of course, there will be some foolish Followers who will argue Philippians 1:15-18: "Be glad, brother! You sowed a seed in that person! God can use that seed to bring that person to Jesus!"
My response is "so what?" I'm supposed to glory in the fact I did my own will in Jesus' name?
Guarantee, any Follower who would throw the Philippians verse my way and try a find a silver liniing about flesh-based witnessing, they have not asked for nor received the gift of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11, Galatians 5:18)
Heh heh...Galatians 5:18, "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law."
Which makes me think of "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." (2 Cor 3:17)
and "the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to...proclaim freedom to the captives" (Isa 61:1)
Busy...or free. What a great insight, Steve. We truly are one or the other.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.
thanks for bearing with my stream of consciousness commentary. I realize the original point A made me think of point B, then I leapfrogged to points E, D and C before bringing it all back around and linking the thought progression back to A (leading of the Spirit is freedom).
I know there is freedom here among us, not condemnation, so I don't per se have to justify or explain. Just for reference thought I'd laugh at myself, at my scatterbrained thought progression that all ties back to our awesome Lord.
Maybe He'll grace me with more simplicity of thought. If not, may He grace others to connect the dots of my meandering thoughts about the Kingdom. LOL
Don't apologize. "Streams of consciousness" are very simple. They just flow, filling the voids you see with thoughts, like life works. To me, this is why even creation is simple. Trees don't use a day planner to grow roots, leaves, fruit. They just do. Though the eye or any of the organs in the body seem complex when scientists look at them as a system, I would say that this is another late viewing, giving the illusion of complexity, when in fact, the chemicals just react because that's the way they're supposed to do. When you bear witness to the good news of God's love and desire for someone, you just flow into them, filling the voids you see with thoughts of Him. Simple. You don't need 4 spiritual laws or some other method ("God loves you and he has a wonderful plan for your life", etc.) Like streams trickle down from the top of the mountain destined to renew life, we trickle down, finding the good path to the lives we are destined to soak. A waterfall is not a busyfall--it's a freefall.
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