Simple Discipleship

I am tired with complexity.

There was a time I could turn to my rotary dial telephone, move my index finger in a circle five times, and find the answer to my inquiry—oh happy days.

I confess I am a closet geek.

I love the simple side of new technology. To have my phone and internet in my pocket places knowledge and relationships within easy reach. However, when a gadget breaks, simplicity leaves the room. I search for days for someone who lives on the backside of Venus, knowing the chances of solving my problem are slim.

Complexity adds anxiety to life. Hope lies in a seventeen-step process seeking to interact with English language learners across the face of the globe. I also get to listen to and shout at multiple levels of automated menus. Simplicity would only lower my blood pressure and turn a two-week task into a one-day victory.

As I remember it—with my rotary dial phone—there was always a human with a kindly, “How may I help you?”

It is not just gadgets—it is life.

To work today’s medical puzzle brings the strong to their knees. For the past two years, the maze of social security, retirement benefits, and future healthcare has reduced me to the competence of a lab rat. The search for cheese in the form of simple answers seems futile.

Twenty-five years ago, returning from morning chapel while teaching at a Christian University, three or four of us found ourselves mired in the deep mud of a theological debate. My colleague, Dr. Dan Coker, always seemed to ask the one profound question needed for clarification.  His question—I never forgot—”I believe when we arrive in God’s presence he will ask us, ‘Why did you make it so hard?'”

A part of me identifies with today’s youth who long for a simple and direct relation with Jesus. They see the church as extra baggage. My generation, with our invention of programs Christianity—not known to the first Jesus followers—bears responsibility for some of the bad press.

When I became a Christ-follower, Jesus added me to his church. I did not join nor did I get a vote. The church is the body of Christ. I cannot be his disciple without being included in his church.

In previous reflections, I highlighted the reality of God’s perfect church reflecting imperfection in its earthly manifestation because its membership still has a lot of earth’s dust on their clothing. As a descendent of Adam and Eve, I don’t do earthly church well.

However, at this point in my walk with Jesus I want church to be simple, not simplistic. I too want to focus on being like Jesus. As directly, and as simply as possible, I want to enhance my relationships with God, fellow disciples, and with those who have yet to bind their lives to the Savior of the world.

Jesus set the example. His life was not easy, neither was it complex. With simplicity and purpose, he moved through his earthly life taking care of his relationship with God, with his disciples, and with those open to giving their own life to him.

Jesus answers his phone every time. He is always ready to hear from his disciple. I think he would say, “Gary, don’t make it so hard, follow me and commit to simple discipleship.”

What is your reflection? Stay tuned. – Gary J. Sorrells