Simple is not the same as easy.

Joining Jesus is so simple people trip over it in their haste to make it complicated. After all, the Protestant Work Ethic demands we do something for everything. The saying goes, “There’s no free ride.”

“The message about the cross is nonsense to those who are being destroyed, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved. Scripture says, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
I will reject the intelligence of intelligent people.’ Where is the wise person? Where is the scholar? Where is the persuasive speaker of our time? Hasn’t God turned the wisdom of the world into nonsense? The world with its wisdom was unable to recognize God in terms of his own wisdom. So God decided to use the nonsense of the Good News we speak to save those who believe. Jews ask for miraculous signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, but our message is that Christ was crucified. This offends Jewish people and makes no sense to people who are not Jewish. But to those Jews and Greeks who are called, he is Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom. God’s nonsense is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Corinthians 1:18-25 God’s Word).

Yes, to follow Jesus you just — follow. The price paid up, the gift of God turns out to include eternal life.

Easy does not enter this, however. Jesus wants everything you have (what you own, belong to and defend), everything that makes you yourself (opinions, reputation, dreams and goals), and every religious ceremony and belief that you treasure.

Religion wants proof that this leads to faith without their add-ons. Thinking people consider such simplicity too easy, and so therefore, nonsense.

Those who give up the demand to be like God, wanting to control their own  destiny and how religion has to work for them, and instead humble themselves, stand ready before the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.

Simply accept that God loved the world, including you, so much that Jesus did all God would demand, so that life eternal becomes a gift (John 3:16).

Don’t chase miracles, just accept them when they come. Don’t get stuck thinking you can think it out.

Simple. Easy if you want it. Worth it.

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