Some days are more complicated than others. There are days when a lot of little irritants join forces to weigh me down. I usually deal with crises well. If I have a roadblock in front of me, I pause for a moment, assess it and then plan my alternate route. It’s the longer stretches of maneuvering around potholes and pylons that usually wear me down. I can deal with being physically tired, but swerving through the frustrations, as if I’m dodging a prize fighter’s jabs, exhausts me emotionally. And when I’m exhausted emotionally, I’m less effective at dodging the jabs.
Life feels complicated, uncertain, and exhausting. And the fact is…life IS complicated, uncertain, and exhausting. Life isn’t perfect. It isn’t intended to be. It’s messy. I’m messy. Humanness is messy. Therefore, life on earth as a human with humans is – yes, messy. Complicated.
And yet it’s simple. Simple because of God. His plan? Simple. His will? Simple. I might not understand everything about God’s plan or his will, but it’s about as uncomplicated as you can get. Reflect on the simplicity of Colossians 1:15-20.
No one can see God, but Jesus Christ is exactly like him. He ranks higher than everything that has been made. Through his power all things were made—things in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, all powers, authorities, lords, and rulers. All things were made through Christ and for Christ. He was there before anything was made, and all things continue because of him. He is the head of the body, which is the church. Everything comes from him. He is the first one who was raised from the dead. So in all things Jesus has first place. God was pleased for all of himself to live in Christ. And through Christ, God has brought all things back to himself again—things on earth and things in heaven. God made peace through the blood of Christ’s death on the cross.
Simple: We can’t see God (so we need to trust and believe), and Jesus is just like him (so we need to trust and believe Jesus).
Simple: God is above all things and he created everything. (We’re the created ones, and we have no power or authority except what we are given by God.)
Simple: Jesus is first. (He’s the center of our lives. He’s the crux of our faith. He’s our connector.)
Simple: God sacrified himself through Jesus so that all of us can be reconciled to him. (Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, you have the choice to live eternally in heaven…or hell.)
Simple.
My daily life or seasons of my life might seem complicated. But when I take off my glasses of this world and glimpse at what I see through God’s perspective, I acknowledge and appreciate the simplicity of life. And I am grateful.
God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life. John 3:16