Thanks to Tom Elenbaas for this: Love. Jesus. Simple

It’s a rare thing when someone else’s blogpost resonates so deeply with your own experience.

Today, I found one such post. It so articulately sums up my own feelings that it bears sharing here.

Here’s what Tom Elenbaas writes with the heading…

Love. Jesus. Simple.

I love to think on deep things. Really, I do. I like puzzles (not jigsaw, I’m horrible at those… but puzzles about reality and what’s meaningful). I like thinking about complex things and trying to come up with solutions to difficult problems. It’s sick, I know, but it’s who I am.

But I’m also realizing how simple my faith could be, and probably should be. Love God; Love People; follow Jesus. That pretty well sums it up.

Of couse life is complicated and throws all kinds of difficult, confusing, demanding, and complex things our way, but I’ve been thinking a lot more about just trying to love God, love people, and follow Jesus more in everything I do. It’s simple, but not easy. In fact, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to do. Loving God is hard, and some people are just difficult to love. And yet I find that the more I love God and love people, the more I like who I am becoming. Simple. And following Jesus, well, that’s really hard. Jesus cared for the poor, spoke against the cultural streams of his day, became an outcast, didn’t have much stuff or security, was misunderstood by his friends and family, was humiliated, tortured, and killed all with complete non-violence and even deeper love at the hardest times.

I wonder how much I could change if I just tried to love God, love people, and follow Jesus and let the rest take care of itself? If I’m honest, I’m not sure I’m radical enough to be that simple, although I’d really like to be.

I love to think on deep things. Really, I do. I like puzzles (not jigsaw, I’m horrible at those… but puzzles about reality and what’s meaningful). I like thinking about complex things and trying to come up with solutions to difficult problems. It’s sick, I know, but it’s who I am.

But I’m also realizing how simple my faith could be, and probably should be. Love God; Love People; follow Jesus. That pretty well sums it up.

Of couse life is complicated and throws all kinds of difficult, confusing, demanding, and complex things our way, but I’ve been thinking a lot more about just trying to love God, love people, and follow Jesus more in everything I do. It’s simple, but not easy. In fact, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to do.

Loving God is hard, and some people are just difficult to love. And yet I find that the more I love God and love people, the more I like who I am becoming. Simple. And following Jesus, well, that’s really hard. Jesus cared for the poor, spoke against the cultural streams of his day, became an outcast, didn’t have much stuff or security, was misunderstood by his friends and family, was humiliated, tortured, and killed all with complete non-violence and even deeper love at the hardest times.

I wonder how much I could change if I just tried to love God, love people, and follow Jesus and let the rest take care of itself? If I’m honest, I’m not sure I’m radical enough to be that simple, although I’d really like to be.