Things continue to get more complicated every day.  

Computers make our lives so much simpler, but they also make things more complicated.  

I can remember when my Dad and my brother could pull the car under the persimmon tree and fix anything on the car.  You can’t do that today because you must have a computer, to fix the car computer.

I was listening to a Pastor this morning, and he pointed out that “live” and “lived” spelled backward, is “evil” and “devil”.  

As I was writing this, I noticed the word evil, is in the word devil.  (Do you think God had anything to do with the spelling of those words?)  

Isaiah 5:20 states, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil”.  

So, not only are we calling good for evil these days, but we are “living” evil.  

I think we have twisted things so much, that has also made our discipleship harder than it need be.  

New Testament means “Good News”.  Our sole job is to spread the “Good News”.  What is the good news? Jesus came to save the world.  Very simple.

If we just told people not to worry about anything, but obeying and loving God with all their heart; God could do the rest.  

I remember when I was dating my husband.  (We dated for six years.) His parents were both Preachers, and we were not living a Christian life.  But they did not lecture me on all the things I was doing wrong.

A few years into my relationship, I had a long discussion with my, “in the future to be” Mother-In-Law, as God was dealing with my heart.  Basically, I was confessing my sins to her, and she said “Karen, don’t worry about any of that. God will take care of everything.”

And she was right.  

God can speak to us so much better than a judgmental, or condescending person.  

What is wrong for one, might not be wrong for someone else, or they might not yet be strong enough to change.  Only God knows their timeline.

Philippians 2:12 – “Therefore,…—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”  

Our job is to introduce people to Christ, and let Him do the good work in them, just as He does in us.  

The key to my “future In-Laws” success was that they lived their testimony.  They did not have to speak it.

I was watching my Grandson the other day and we went outside and sat in the grass.  I laughed because the grass was prickly, and Waylon did not like it. We sat there for a while, (with Waylon in my lap), and he watched a Love Bug.  

I was amazed he could follow this little floaty bug with his eyes.  When it got closer to him, Waylon would put his hand out trying to grab it.  He’s only 6 months, so this fascinated me, and at that moment I wondered if that is how God looks at us; in fascination, with laughter.

Just as the scripture states in Matthew 18:3 – And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  

All of our little antics have got to be comical to God, just as Waylon sitting in the grass was to me.  And our fascinations over God’s creation, probably evokes a lot of pride in God, as we marvel over something that He has created.  

We should go back to simpler “thinking” in our discipleship.  I hope you have epiphanies while looking at the simple things of life.

 

Karen Y. Stevens is the founder of Orange County Christian Writers Guild