"Simplicity 'In Christ' "

"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." -(2 Cor. 11:3)

Does your life seem quite complicated at times, and does it frequently seem difficult to live for God? (Of course, I'm speaking to professing Christians here.) If your answer is "yes", let's look again at that question.... "Does YOUR life seem...?" You see, that's the problem- It's YOUR life, whereas it needs to be CHRIST'S life THROUGH you; Then, the "living for God" part becomes quite easy and SIMPLE. There is nothing hard, or difficult, or burdensome about living for God. In fact, it is ABUNDANT LIFE (see John 10:10), and it's as simple as.... LIVING IN A HOUSE. More on that later. But for now... let's focus upon the "your life" part. Here is what Paul the Apostle said about that subject:

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; YET NOT I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave himself for me." - (Gal. 3:20)

The way I see it, those three words are the problem: "YET NOT I".
WE like to be in control, and we love our RELIGIOUS LAWS, for they appeal to our pride, to earn something with God!
What are "religious laws", and why am I talking about them?

"Religious laws" are...

anything we place our faith in apart from the CROSS OF CHRIST.

They make our living for God complicated because they "frustrate the grace of God", hindering the flow of the Holy Spirit. The emphasis is on ME AND WHAT I NEED TO DO, rather than TRUSTING IN WHAT CHRIST HAS ALREADY DONE."

"For without FAITH it is impossible to please Him..." -(Heb. 11:6)

We can make a religious law out of anything; It could be...
- our prayer life
- our Word life
- church attendance
- tithing
- witnessing
- fasting
- rules that our church decides
- rules that our denomination decides
- rules that we decide
- rules that our pastor decides
- convictions about how we dress
- convictions about what we listen to
- convictions about what we watch
- counselling
- getting alone by yourself
(and the list can go on and on)

"I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness comes by the law (or laws), then Christ is dead in vain." - (Gal. 2:21)

You see, keeping (or not keeping) these things has absolutely nothing to do with making us closer with God, making us holy, good, or giving us victory over sin and living a fulfilled Christian life. If that was the case, then why did Christ die for our sins in the first place? The truth of the matter, is that we need Christ just as much AFTER we are saved as we do to BE saved! In John 15:5, Jesus declared "without Me ye can do NOTHING."

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." -(Rom. 10:4)

But getting back to the "house" analogy... I would like to repeat what I said earlier: "Living for God is as simple a living in a house." What do I mean by that?

If we place our faith exclusively in Christ and what He did for us on the Cross (our redemption, and all that it entails), this places us "IN CHRIST". This phrase: "in Christ, in Whom, in Him, in the Light, in the Beloved", etc. is found some 170 times in the new testament, and alluded to many times more in the old testament as well. Here, in fact, are some examples from the old testament:

"And a Man shall be as a Hiding Place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest..." -(Isa. 32:2)

"Thou art my Hiding Place; Thou shalt preserve me from trouble..." -(Psa. 32:7)

"Thou art my Hiding Place and my Shield: I hope in Thy Word." -(Psa. 119:114)

"Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy Presence from the pride of man: Thou shalt keep them secretly in a Pavilion from the strife of tongues." -(Psa. 31:20)

"For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His Pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me... ". -(Psa. 27:5)

"The eternal God is thy Refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms..." -(Deut. 33:27)

"I cried unto Thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my Refuge and my Portion in the land of the living." -(Psa. 142:5)

"He that dwelleth in the secret Place of the Most High shall abide under the Shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, He is my Refuge and my Fortress: my God; in Him will I trust." -(Psa. 91:1-2)

"LORD, Thou hast been our dwelling Place in all generations." -(Psa. 90:1)

A "dwelling place"; In other words... a HOUSE. I mean... How hard IS it to live in a house? Suppose you are outside, and it is dark because its cloudy, so that the moon and/or stars cannot shine their light; And it's also STORMY out there, quite windy and nasty. And... there has been a problem with a roaring lion and rabid wolves in your area. But you got this "house", your "dwelling place" to go into, and there's plenty of Light in there for you to see your way. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this house is your refuge and fortress; You're SAFE under it's shadow, and it's a hiding place from that lion and those wolves!
Well... CHRIST is like that! As we are "In Him", we have "Light" of the Holy Spirit to see (or discern) where we need to go, what we need to do, what we need to stay away from, the difference between right and wrong, etc. Also, as we are IN HIM, we are protected from the harmful effects of "wind and rain" (the storms of life), from the "roaring lion" (Satan seeking to devour), and the "rabid wolves" (demon spirits which afflict and deceive).
All you have to do is... GO IN AND STAY THERE. (again, how difficult and complicated is that?). But suppose you decide... "I can make it just fine outside here. I don't need a hand-out! I want to WORK for my survival!" And you're comforted by the fact that quite a few people are out there with you (but it's sure hard to see them, so it's just like you're on you're own!). You look and notice that inside the well-lit house (for you can see through the window), there are some people curled up by the warmth of a fire-place (a simple life), and out here YOU are: wet, cold, and STRUGGLING FOR YOUR SURVIVAL against the predators which you can hear snarling close-by (a complicated life)! Anger fills your heart toward those inside the house who are living so well, and you want to do something very bad to them to persecute them! But all along, if you would just bury your pride, YOU could go in that house, for you also are welcome in there by the Butler (the Holy Spirit) of the House (Jesus). You are drawn to come, and you begin to wonder how it can be that you could go in to abide:

To dwell "in Christ" one needs to make and keep Christ and The CROSS as his SOLE OBJECT of faith, daily. He is then "preserved IN CHRIST JESUS" (Jude 1), and "kept by the power of God" (1 Pet. 1:5).

In closing, let us return once again to the opening scripture where it is said that just as Satan, through the serpent, in subtlety, beguiled (or decieved) Eve; Likewise, our minds can be corrupted (by Satan) from the simplicity that is "In Christ".
A certain passage in Genesis recounts the details of the encounter between the two, and it is here that the Holy Spirit reveals what happened to her, and what can happen to us:

"And the LORD GOD commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:'But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.".....
And the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God made. And he said unto the woman,
Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?...... Ye shall not surely die: (=doubt and unbelief in God's Way)
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and
ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (=pride)
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh), and that it was pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes), and a tree to be desired to make one wise (the pride of life- 1 John 2:16), she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (=worldliness)
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons" (=works of self-righteousness). (Gen. 2:16-17; 3;1,4-7)
Well, right after this transpired, Adam and Eve's lives started to get very complicated (because sin will do that!) And the cause of it?

Unbelief, pride, worldliness, and works of self-righteousness.

This is our problem as well: Satan comes along to us, and because of those things within us, he gets us to go and stay outside of the Hiding Place, the simplicity which is IN CHRIST! But how can this be reversed? By the exact opposite:

FAITH/ TRUST, HUMILITY, SEPARATION FROM "THE WORLD" UNTO GOD, and GRACE THROUGH FAITH IN THE CROSS.

Then, and only then, can we live the more abundant Life that God originally intended for Adam & Eve, and which He intends for us: the "simplicity that is IN CHRIST".
It can be yours..... today!