Jesus and his simple way are anything but ordinary. Jesus’ way is simple, but it is anything but ordinary. Jesus’ way is extraordinary, in its simplest form!
So, I guess I’m asking if you see simplicity itself as extraordinary; or beyond extraordinary. Complications, shallowness, and distractions are rooted in the world’s ordinary or everyday way of being and doing. These are the sorts of things upon which all of those things we are so tired of are built. Popular Christian words and spiritual sounding catch-phrases flow from these sorts of things; simplicity is the foundation of the extraordinary way of Jesus of Nazareth.
I think we all can slip. I think it is all too easy for us to fill our lives with a bunch of spiritual sounding prose in a vain effort to fill the spiritual hole created deep inside us by our instinctive need for extraordinary experiences of God. So, we chatter. We mouth a whole bunch of spiritual sounding stuff that really doesn’t make a difference in our own lives, much less the lives of our friends and neighbors. Worse than even that - if you can imagine - this extraordinary kingdom Jesus planted on this earth slowly empties while lives and neighborhoods continue to beg for real transformation. I think many, many of us have reduced Christianity to ordinary. I think much of popular Christianity is more infomercial than lifestyle. It is so easy to slip, isn’t it?
There is a much better way. There is a much simpler way. There are new churches springing up all over our country that have rediscovered and embraced this simple way.
Jesus’ way does not need to be decorated with all of our spiritual sounding prose to resonate with the people in our world or totally transform our cities and neighborhoods. Jesus’ way is seriously potent and transformational when articulated and lived in it’s most basic, simple, and beyond extraordinary form. It is life-changing when it is understood in this fashion.
Real renewal comes when this sort of Christianity is lived, in real life, every single day.