Oversimplified

Yesterday, I had a rare opportunity to minister to someone.  I have always found myself - even though a bit talkative, to say the least - scared to share a testimony with someone.  I suppose my spiritual immaturity, lack of faith in myself, and fear of ridicule caused me to feel inferior.  I find it easy to share my love for God to those who know God already or perhaps even family who may not have a very personal relationship with God because they are family and have to love to me.  It's amazing how one little fish symbol and spill into a magical conversation with someone.

Ichthus

It all started with a fish - you see the company for which we were discussing had a fish symbol (otherwise – ichthys = {among other Christian meanings} Fishers of Men) on its home page.  Now, for many of you this might not mean much, but it raised all sorts of questions for the person I was speaking with.  I then decided to jump out on a limb and ask why.  For someone who has been around church all my life, I don't believe I have even an ounce of understanding as to how someone who is new to faith in Christ feels.  This person shared some things with me and my reply was simply this - you cannot allow yourself to get caught up in all the fallacies or "truths" that are out there.  God's love for us is simple - John 3:16 is all you need to believe - the rest is fluff.  Now, let me stop right there and explain something to you - maybe my conviction of love oversimplified the response I gave, but the truth is - John 3:16 is all we need for salvation.  You see if we believe that God sent His one and only son to die for our sin and that if we believe in Him we'll live forever, then we don't need to worry about all the little details out there about differences in faith, what Jesus "was" or "was not", etc. etc. etc.  If we believe in the love that it took for one man to give His son and one man's love for us to die for us - what other details really matter?

Even a comment was made about Jesus possibly having a family and children - now as I said - there is no where in the Bible that speaks of any of this, but if it were true does that matter - He still chose to die for you.  Oversimplification? Yes, in ways, but for someone who sees all the "stuff" that is out there - it has to be simple.  If you get into some deep theological conversation giving 100 reasons why the Bible is right and there is no other way - the whole message of God's love gets lost.  If someone sees, understands, and accepts the sacrifice one man made for them - they will be interested in learning more.  It's like walking into a classroom for the first time - let's say Biological Engineering -  and being given cliff notes the first day with a test at the end of the week.  Could you imagine how that would make you feel? A little overwhelmed perhaps? Absolutely!

A person has a choice, a rather simple, but life-changing choice to make and it has to be out of understanding of love.  Bombarding them with 101 ways to be a Christian is overwhelming.  Are you wondering where the conversation led? Well, let's just say that by keeping it simple it made sense to them.  It ended up that the conversation lasted over an hour and me telling them that I will pray for them and to remember God's love is simple.  The more love you are shown, the more love you are willing to give.  Is there any greater love than the love it took God to watch His only son die?  Is there any greater love than the love it took for Jesus to willingly die on a cross for you?  No - absolutely not.  There is no greater love ever known to man than the love of God.  Lucky for us - it's oversimplified.