Faithbase

Keep it simple, stupid. So this KISS acronym is one that I really like because of what it tries to help us understand. There's a value in simplicity, right? A lot of the times that I'm talking with people, I hear these stories of people feeling so overwhelmed about when it comes to trying to keep up with religion. Which rules are we supposed to follow? What are we supposed to do? What aren't we supposed to do? What are the things we have to avoid? Are there certain things we need to say? Do we have to pay money to go to church? All of these different questions come up over and over, and it helps us realize that there is a need and a value for us to be able to present things about Christ in their most distilled essence. There's so much good in understanding these complexities of scripture, particularly in the nuances of church life and tradition, and the value that all of those things hold for us. But there's an even greater value in understanding that really the whole of Christianity is boiling down to just a few concepts that we need to keep if we want to be considered people who walk with Jesus. James 1.27 tells us that religion, which is pure and undefiled and acceptable before the Lord, is to take care of widows and orphans. It's something that's other-centered as opposed to the self-centered. When we think about all of Christianity being able to be summed up in that idea, in that thought, it reminds us that we just need to focus on loving other people no matter where they are and even no matter where we might find ourselves. You've probably heard of the Ten Commandments before, right? There are these ten laws that we're supposed to live by and that everybody thinks are super important to life. And there was a story where somebody comes up to Jesus and asks him, like, hey, out of all of the commandments that are there, which one is the most important? And Jesus boils all of them down to these two. The first one, he says, is to love God with your whole self, right? Your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then the second one is like the first one where you're supposed to love your neighbor as yourself. And when I'm talking with people, the things that I hear, the questions that I get and that I'm answering and trying to be helpful with so often are related to, like, what can I do? How far can I go? Am I allowed to do this? Do I have to stay away from that? And we're so worried about what we're not allowed to do or how far we can push the envelope that we forget about these two things that we should actually be proactively doing, right? Jesus telling us to do these two things enables us to treat the other like we would want to be treated. It enables us to make differences in the lives of people. And what I've learned is that when people are so focused on trying to do those two things well, loving God and loving others, everything else kind of seems to fade away. All of the wondering about how far you can push boundaries, how far the envelope can be this or that, seem to go by the wayside because you're so concerned and so caught up in doing the two things that actually matter and doing the two things that Jesus is explicitly clear on that there's no room to really worry about anything else because those two things are such life-encompassing tasks. So if you'd like to talk more about any of this stuff, please feel free to shoot me a message. I'd love to if you just send me a private message there, I'd love to chat with you and be able to connect. Thanks so much and have a good week.