Begin With Simple and Move to Difficult

 

As I've posted before, becoming a Christian is simple. There are only two specific requests made in the New Testament for people to become a follower of Jesus Christ - and that's what the word Christian was created to mean.

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:36-40 KJV)

Simple. Two commandments from God. Back when God created the tablets for Moses, there were ten, but they embodied these two. These two commandments explain all the Law and the prophets God sent.

In another gospel, we get the second requirement:

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:15-16 KJV)

Simple. Until people continue their search and ask: Who is God? Moses asked that very question:

And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. (Exodus 3:13-15 KJV)

Which means you must know the first part of the story, beginning in the book of Genesis in the Bible. So you need to sit down and read a Bible to understand who God is and why it is necessary to love Him with all your heart. There was a man named Nicodemus who spent his life reading about God and showing Him to others. But Jesus knew Nicodemus needed to understand Jewish history and prophecy, though he had studied it his adult life:

Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? (John 3:9-12 KJV)

Even when you get through that first commandment that you do love God, do understand that He sent His son, that second commandment about loving your neighbor as yourself is going to be a stumblingblock. Guaranteed. The example of the first brothers, Able and Cain, shows how difficult it is to get along with other people. So many examples in the Bible! Jesus gave one, when asked who was a neighbor, but you have to read some history to find out why a Samaritan was chosen as an example.

Michael Belk's book, Journeys With The Messiah, and his website contains a photograph showing the Messiah standing on a road with a German soldier. For my generation, that is one of the most difficult neighbors. Another would be a Japanese pilot. Both are my neighbors in so many ways, and if I cannot accept that, how can I be acceptable?

That's where the simplicity of believing God loved us enough to send a savior ends. We must also accept that "whosoever" means someone we do not see as neighborly. Someone who we consider to be an enemy. Someone we really do need to include in our prayers only because God loves them as much as He does us.

"Whosoever" does not mean simple at all. It means exactly what the Bible says. It doesn't say "Walk up to them and tell them how bad they are and they need to change." It does say:

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:44-48 KJV)