Simple Christianity

You cannot fake Christianity. It is not just a religion. Or an idea. Or a culture. Or a belief system. It is not something you just put on. Like a coat or a hat. Or gloves. Something external. It is not a weekend duty at 10:00 am Sunday morning.

It is more than that. It is a way of living. Something that is born in you and takes over who you were. It is a relationship. Christianity is a person. It is a way of life. Something internal. It is a daily way of thinking and living 24/7.

My favorite way to define Christianity is with the word REVOLUTION. It literally means "A drastic change of an idea, the complete overthrow of a government, a complete cycle, and a radical rotation of thought.”

That means we have to define it by looking at what God said Christianity is all about. The definition and basics of Christianity. Let me define it for you as simple as I can by having you look at The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), The Beatitudes (Matthew 5-7), and The Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25). Each of these are indicative of the kind of life we are expected to live as Christians. 


For now, look at the Genesis account of how God started everything. 

THE PERFECT WORLD…

Let’s take a look back to the beginning. Genesis 1-2 begin this beautiful description of our world with God and man in harmony. It describes a world that is without God and man. It is dark, formless, void, and quiet. 

Then God hovers over it and creates this beautiful scene. Out of nothing, and with just words, we see stars, galaxies, oceans, nature, animals, and finally man! And a few basic rules that God puts into place. These will govern how everything works. It is simple. Man must merely obey God and His principles and everything is good. 

Clearly we see a few principles to live by from early Genesis:

First, Listen to God. The first is elementary. And easy to do. It doesn't take much effort. No production. Get your wisdom directly from Him. Don’t listen to creation or things or trees or other personalities. Be close to Him. Simple.

Second, Respect each other. Honor and prefer others. Serve. Love. Help. Assist. Live in harmony with others on the earth manage what God created. The ultimate test of Christianity - LOVE.

Thirdly, Life is great. Creation was made for us to enjoy. Name the animals. And have fun doing that. Enjoy the food, plant life, oceans, stars, plains, and waterfalls. Party and play. Sleep and get up and do it all over again.

Finally, Produce. Begin families and share this with others. The best model for creation is healthy families that share life together. Make this world ours.

All these simple rules made up the world as Adam and Eve knew it at the time. The way life was supposed to be. The perfect couple enjoying the perfect world. Can you imagine living in that setting?

You wake up, talk to God, kiss your wife, have breakfast, walk through the forest with a lion, have lunch at the beach, take an afternoon walk with God and talk about what you are going to name the first city, come home and have supper with your wife, take an evening stroll with your wife to the cliff and watch the eagles fly, and then go back home and fall asleep. Only to get up and do it again the next day.

Too simple. I wonder how life would be different in America if we lived by those principles. We will never know because we are all living post-adam and have a new list of principles we live by. I will deal with those and what happens next in the following blog as we take a look at what happens next.