Complex or Simple?

John 14:6- "I am the way, the truth and the life."

I am quick to see the complexities of pretty much everything. I think this is truly a gift. Everything is more complex than it appears, and I think this is most true with people. With this kinda of vision, I am often less judgmental of people because I realize that there is a lot more to their story, and thus their present situation, than can be seen initially. My experiences these last few years have made me even more aware of this. For instance, when I would check in to a psych ward, my first impression of the other patients was that they were crazy- like off their rocker crazy. But by the end of my time I would have pages written about these people's stories and how amazing these people were. My assessment at the beginning was far from true. And what helped me to realize that was the opportunity to hear the complexity of their life experiences.

How the Gospel is lived out in this broken, evil-saturated world is also a very complex thing. We need to constantly be re-evaluating how we convey the message of the Gospel, how we address issues of oppression and inequality in light of the Gospel, and the ways that we personally as well as corporately live out our faith. I have this love-hate relationship with the theory of "culturally relevant Christianity." On the one hand, it's legit- we need to constantly be taking culture into account. But on the other hand, it's ridiculous- the Gospel, without any alteration or whatever, is always relevant. This is a completely separate post, so I'll leave it at that for the time being.

All that said, I have recently been deeply convicted of the simplicity of the Gospel. In the passage I started out with, Jesus lays out the Gospel- He's it, He's everything, that's all there is to it. The Christian life can be boiled down to two very simple things- Jesus is everything, so lay down your life in humble, passionate pursuit of Him. (Even as I write this, my natural tendency is to expand on that. But that would negate my point!) My life, pure and simple, is to be about an all out abandon to enter into relationship with Christ.

My favorite book quote of all time is from the end of Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. To this day I get chills whenever I say it! "I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice?" This again lays out the one simple Truth of life- "You are Yourself the answer." If at the end of the day I am still plagued by complexity, I'm missing the point. I need to constantly return to the simple Truth of the Gospel- Jesus is it.