The Simplicity of Faith

“occurred that Jesus entered a certain village, and a woman named Martha received and welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister names Mary, who seated herself at the Lord's feet and was listening to His teaching. But Martha [overly occupied and too busy] as distracted with much serving; and she came up to Him and said, Lord, is it nothing to You that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me [to lend a hand and do her part along with me]! But the Lord replied to her saying, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and trouble about many things; there is need of only one or but a few things. Mary has chosen the good portion [that which is to her advantage], which shall not be taken away from her. “ (Luke 10:38-42 )

Many Christians are like Martha.. They spend all their Christian life trying to be the perfect Christian.

They work hard to obey church doctrines, attend church every Sunday, pay their tithes regularly and commit themselves to the pastors authority. The most important aspect of their Christian walk, is to they put on an outward appearance of being a strong self-sufficient Child of God, one of true faith and dedication to righteousness. Some Christians go as far as to keep such a close watch on the dark world around them, looking for all the signs of the Lord intimate return, listening to all the prophetic messages that proclaim doom and glum, that they can’t see the hand of the Lord moving in this world in a positive way, as His light begins to shine in the darkness.

But like Martha, most Christians are not motivated by any true love of the Lord or willingness to humble themselves before Him an sit at His feet and listen to His words of guidance and hope. They are moved by fear of losing their own salvation if they make one single mistake, like missing a church service, or getting sick. Or their actions of looking at the dark world so closely ,may be motivated by fear of losing their own salvation, if the Lord does not return soon. In other words, many Christians who’s beliefs and action are motivated like Martha, by anxiety, and worry.



The Simplicity of Faith

I believe that the Christian life should be a celebration. And yet too many believers don't even enjoy their Christian life, let alone celebrate it. Many people truly love Jesus Christ and are on their way to heaven, but very few are enjoying the trip. For many years I was one of those people … and so was Martha.

Martha was so busy doing what I used to do, running around trying to be perfect in order to impress God and every other person in the church. I complicated my relationship with the Lord because I had a legalistic approach to righteousness. I pursued many religious conception in order to improve my situations in life, and to prove myself as a Christian. I claimed God had healed me of my illness, keeping the truth of my pain and misery to myself, so that I would be viewed by the church as self-sufficient and a worthy person of value to the church and to God. I went to church every time the door was open, in order to win approval, even when I was so sick and in so much pain, I should have been in bed. All because it was vital to me that I be viewed as a women of faith and conviction. When every endeavor on my part to be accepted by others in the church failed, and I began to be verbally abused by the leadership of the church and by my so called brothers and sisters in the Lord, I began to resented people I viewed were exactly like Mary. Christians that seem to have no problem fitting into the church life with easy. Christians, by all out word appearance, that clearly to me had no problem doing everything that was required of the church, and were perfect Christians. While I on the other hand, never seemed to fit in, and was always on the receiving end of accusations. I had no conception of how deceived I really was.

My problem was that I was all Martha and no Mary. I loved Jesus, but I had not learned about the simple life He desired me to live. The answer, I discovered, was rooted in faith, an action on my part when discovered what it means to sit at the feet of Jesus, listen to His words, and trusting God with all of my heart and soul. It was at His knees that I learned to accept His unconditional LOVE for me

Only Jesus!

Jesus came to this world and paid for our sins, taking our punishment upon Himself. He became our substitute, paid the debt we owed, at no cost to us. He did all this freely because of His great love, grace, and mercy. He inherited all the Father has to give and tells us that we are joint-heirs with Him by virtue of our faith in His Love and sacrifice. He has provided the way for our complete victory both here and hereafter. We are more than conquerors. He has conquered, and we get the reward without the battle.

How much simpler could it be? The gospel is wonderfully uncomplicated. Complication is the work of the church who has failed to accepted this simple truth. A church filled with Christians that look upon God as a father with a big stick, just waiting for them to screw up so He can whack them. And in the process they have belittled and ignored the simple truth of the CROSS!

If you want to live a complicated, complex, joyless life, spend your time trying to do something that can't be done without God. Try to live in the shadows of other peoples opinions and beliefs, and your life will be filled with pain and disappointments.

Return to and celebrate the simplicity of your faith in Jesus alone! And in doing so walk with Him in the Light of Life !

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, " I am the light of the world.

He who fallows Me Shall not walk in the darkness, but will have the

light of life"( John 8:12)