PSALM 50:14-15 – Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.

THEME OF THE DAY. SIMPLICITY IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. The Christian life is not complex. God did not make it difficult to understand. Our Lord is not only a God of order and design, but He is also our God of simplicity. We, sinners turned children of God, make the Christian life complex and difficult to understand. We define it wrong more by external conformity to rules and conduct than the abundant life of spiritual reality of walking with the Lord Jesus. We also tend to make it complex by placing expectations and requirements upon one another that might not be in line with the Lord’s expectations and requirements. For instance, we just might measure our spirituality and that of others by what we avoid, our Christian service, how faithful we are to “spiritual things” and yet fall far short of what Jesus calls us to be and do – He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

Even though God has not made living for Him and walking with Him complex, He has not made it easy. Yes, taking on the Lord’s yoke is light and His burden is easy – Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30) – but that doesn’t mean denying oneself to be close to Him is a call to light and easy living. Just the opposite. The Lord warns us, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14). Friends, not all who profess Christ profess Christ. Not all who claim allegiance to Him are abiding in Him. Now, don’t let that cause a fearful doubting of salvation. That isn’t why the Lord gives us such strong words. It is to assurance of salvation as we examine our lives and see the Biblical evidences of being a Christian present in our lives. And the way we will see those evidences or fruit will be in today’s scripture and the simple practice of what is to mark the true follower of Christ.

First, the fruit or evidence in a child of God is a consistent life of worship – Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Those whom God has given new birth are drawn to worship such a loving God. They stand in awe of such undeserved grace and favor. Such awe moves the heart to praise. It is always present in healthy believers; a spirit of worshipful thanksgiving to the God of all grace.

Then, there will be the fruit or evidence of a life of progressive obedience to God’s Word and our commitments to Him – perform your vows to the Most High. What are the vows a person keeps when becoming a Christian? Vows of obedience. We are saved to obey. We show love to God by obeying His Word. Vows show commitment and keeping them demonstrates that commitment.

Finally, the fruit or evidence of a follower of Christ is an ongoing life of prayer – communing heart to heart with the living God; call upon me in the day of trouble. To call upon God is to pray to Him. And for the Christian, prayer is as natural in the spiritual relationship with God as breathing is in the physical realm of life.

For sure, the Christian life isn’t easy, but it isn’t complex. Keep the simplicity of worship, obedience, and prayer in the forefront of our thinking and living. Doing so will keep the Christian life simple. Like our Lord designed it to be.

PRAYER: “Father, forgive when I re-define the Christian life and neglect the simplicity of how You define the Christian.”

QUOTE: “God has given us three things to know Him, love Him, live for Him – worship, obedience, prayer.”