Today I am overjoyed with the realization of the simplicity of the gospel yet, at the same time, saddened and frustrated by how complicated some try to make it. Don’t get me wrong… I know there are unending mysteries concerning God and creation. I realize there are vast dimensions to salvation. Plus, there are millions of subtle realities wrapped into God’s Word and His workings with mankind! Yet, in daily application it should all be pretty simple.
It is no coincidence that God uses marriage as a concept to understand many dynamics of our relationship with Him! As complex as marriage can be it functions around some very simple concepts. Love, trust, and communication may well be the core elements of a great marriage. And after all, this ‘thing’ with God is a relationship. The moment we forget that relationship is what it’s all about our involvement with God will always degenerate into an intellectual or mystical quagmire!
Just making that statement about the simplicity of marriage causes me to recoil inwardly because we all know that marriage can be much more complicated and multidimensional than just these three factors. In fact, the farther we get from the basics our marriage relationship, like our relationship with God, becomes less and less of a heart matter and more intellectual; thus becoming more complicated and difficult.
I was video recording some television programs last week with my great friends Bob and Audrey Meisner and we began to discuss the 80/20 rule. According to this principle (which seems to be pretty well proven) 80% of our desired outcomes are the result of 20% of our efforts.
The 80/20 rule reveals something that has made life so easy for me: I don’t have to be good at everything; I just have to be good at a few things – not just any random few things, but the few things that actually matter. If I can identify and put my efforts into just a few of the things that truly matter, my marriage will be really good without me trying to be good at everything. It’s the same with business, friendship, and walking with God! The complex points are good to know when you need them but they are of no value if we are not succeeding at the most fundamental aspects.
All healthy aspects of a relationship begin with love. All other essential factors of a relationship naturally emerge when there is love. Today there are many non-relational people preaching the gospel as if it is just some legal, positional, abstract truth that should change our lives just because it ‘is.’ In other words, since God loves us that should take care of all of our problems. That’s like saying, “My spouse loves me so it doesn’t really matter what I do.” His love should just fix me! Obviously, these are not concepts developed by people who understand much about love!
Here’s one of the paradoxical anomalies of love: unless it is expressed and experienced it is meaningless. In nearly forty years of counseling I have seen that most relationship issues revolve around the inability to give or receive love. I have often talked with people who were suicidal, ready to give up on the world, because in their estimation, “No one loves me!” Yet, they were surrounded by people doing everything they knew to do to express love.
Jesus said the two most important commandments are to love God and to love people. The New Testament further explains we love Him because He first loved us. Over 30 years ago I began pointing out that religion had over-emphasized our need to love God without properly emphasizing His love for us. But today teachers of the Grace Impostors are saying it doesn’t matter if you love God or not, He loves you and that is enough! But those of us who have meaningful relationships know that doesn’t work. In a successful relationship both parties must be giving and receiving love! The truth is, it is a psychological phenomenon and biblical reality that we can’t really experience the love of someone we do not love.
Jesus said, This is life that you might know God! As you’ve heard me say, that word ‘know’ means to experience with our every capacity to experience! The life of God doesn’t just manifest because I have the information “God loves me.” The life of God manifests because I experience God and His love! So, just as in every relationship, the giving and receiving of love is sought out. It is cultivated. It grows as our experience with the other person grows. As our love grows our trust (faith) deepens. As love and trust abound communication abounds, thus the cycle of love continues to expand.
For this month’s series I have chosen Overcoming the Root of All Temptation. When there is a struggle with temptation or sin it has such a damaging effect on our capacity to give and receive God’s love! And the truth is, any temptation is relatively easy to overcome if we know, believe, and experience the reality of who God really is!
Stay in love with God! Don’t give yourself to anything that would harden your heart, undermine your confidence, or erode your faith! Don’t let this relationship become about knowledge, deep insights, and doctrinal positions. Don’t do anything to damage the most important of all relationships: you and God!
I hope you have downloaded our new mobile app. If not, go to our website and download it today. We have been waiting to make sure all of our World Changers and as many of our followers as possible have the app before I launch Operation Encouragement. Be sure and download the app; you don’t want to miss a thing!
Operation One Billion will be expanding even more this year. Now, more than ever, we are changing the way the world sees God!
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