Back to simplicity I always thought if I ever wrote a book about my experience in the charismatic movement, I would call it Back to Simplicity. It was the simplicity of life in and with Jesus that was lost during my time as a "born-again" charismatic Christian. From the moment of my "conversion," my spiritual diet was strategies for success, foolproof principles I was supposed to put into action to be able to live a "victorious" life. The biggest and most popular preachers were those whose sermons promised us three keys to achieve this or that goal. If you weren't achieving what good Christians were supposed to, these principles would be the solution to your problems.
It was such a burden. You'd be running all the time to keep up. As I heard someone else say recently, it was always "Jesus and something". Jesus was never enough.
It was Paul's letter to the Colossians that taught me Jesus was enough. The Colossians had invented their own rules and clever philosophies for spiritual success -- "Do not taste! Do not touch!" -- and had unwittingly displaced Christ. Christians today can be just the same, except rather than ancient gnosticism, it's God-chasing with Tommy Tenney, or praying the prayer of Jabez with Bruce Wilkinson, or entering the fourth dimension with Yongii Cho. Same old story: Jesus and.
In the midst of my struggles and battles, I'm not interested any more in some religionist coming along and trying to sell me a list of guaranteed methods, an infallible set of principles which, if I could only get them just right, would ensure victory. I think I just want to trust Jesus. I know that could sound kinda pious, but really, I actually like the job he's doing with me. I like the simplicity of walking day to day with Jesus.
Dave
12:27:05 PM 
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