Monday, March 28, 2011

The simple things in life....

What to blab about today?  Obama's speech on why we went into Libya?  Nah, I'm honestly too torn about whether we should be putting our dog in the fight or not.  New report that a fractional increase in consumer spending was primarily spent on increased gas and energy costs?  No, trying to stay a little happier than that for a while.  My youngest child's upcoming 5th birthday and it's reverberations?  See previous answer :). 
How about simplicity?  I finally finished Max Lucado's Traveling Light, and fact that the whole book is built off of the 23rd Psalm reminded me that it is the simplest things that really reach us best.  Think about some of the most enduring praise and worship songs.  Amazing Grace, I Can Only Imagine, God Of Wonders all come to mind as packing huge amounts of encouragement, praise and theology into very tight packages.  The same goes for Bible verses and stories.  Again, think about the most familiar ones, like the aforementioned 23rs Psalm, the account of Shadrach, Meshach and Abendego, and most of Jesus' parables.  Again, we find a lot in these small packages.
"OK, great, so there's a lot for the new believer in these songs and verses, what does that mean to us more seasoned Christians?"  Glad you asked.  Just because something is simple doesn't mean that it can't have a number of layers.  Remember that tale of Rack, Shack, and Benny?  When we learned it in Sunday School, do you remember hearing, really hearing that line "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”(Dan. 3:17,18, emphasis mine)  Think about Jesus washing His disciple's feet at the Last Supper.  As we grow in knowledge of the society an the times, it goes from a simple act of humility to realizing that not only did these men have filthy feet from walking on dirt roads all day long, but that for that reason, foot washing was the bottom man on the totem pole's job.  What did that additional information do to your understanding of that action? 
Have you slipped into a humdrum?  Have you overloaded on theological disseminations?  Are you just searching for that next step in maturation?  Look back to those simple things.  The kid's choruses you sang, the old hymns you rolled your eyes at as all the old people sang, ;) the parables and histories you think you know by heart, revisit those.  Look at them through new eyes and listen through new ears.  Enjoy their messages.  Add your knowledge and experiences to them.  You will be amazed at what you can find.

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