Simplicity

         There are times when instructions can almost be hard to follow. They can be contradictory when they say something at one point and then say the opposite further on down the list. The recent infection in the world has resulted in some instruction being very vague especially as to who should wear a face mask and who should not, if it does any good or not, what type it should be or not to be. Face masks are not the only thing with poor instructions. Personally I have found the instructions included with tax returns or most of the other things that the government produces to sometimes be very confusing. Instructions can cause so much confusion that the desired end result is never achieved. We can always be thankful that God makes His instructions very clear. John 3:3 says, “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

            God made the instruction on how to get to heaven so simple that anyone can follow them regardless of the number of years of education that a person has. If that were not enough, God also provided specific case examples in the lives of the Philippian Jailer, the Ethiopian Eunuch, the Apostle Paul and the woman praying near the river. God's instructions don't require a lot of steps or as some say, hoops in which to jump through. Instructions today often require a number of steps in order to accomplish the desired result. I once purchased a radio kit, both a transmitter and a receiver and had to assemble them exactly per the instruction or they would not work. I crossed off each step as it was completed and went through about a hundred steps to finish the receiver and transmitter. I finished the receiver, plugged it in and only received one station no matter where I put the dial. I had done one of about 300 steps wrong and had to retrace each step in order to find the error. I eventually found where I had soldered one wire to the wrong post and corrected it to the right place and the radio worked fine. I am so thankful the the simplicity of the Gospel message. The Lord Jesus Christ told Nicodemus that He must be born again in order to get to heaven and then the Philippians Jailer was told to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and he would be saved...” I don't have to go through hundreds of steps in order to reach heaven. Ephesians 2:8-9 reminds us that salvation is a free gift and that there is nothing that we need to accomplish in order to receive it. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” The greatest gift in the world is free and simple to acquire but the human mind says that there must be something that we have to do in order to attain such a wonderful gift. That, however, is not the case. The next time you look at a set of complex instructions, be reminded of how thankful you are that salvation is simple. Praise God that the Bible is simple to understand. Don't make it harder than it really is.