SIMPLE

The other night I was watching a documentary about a British Neurosurgeon, Prof. Henry Marsh, who has been volunteering his services in the Ukraine a few weeks each year for the past 15 years. The facilities in the former soviet block nation were scant. The British Professor was used to working with a large team of highly trained staff and utilizing state-of-art technology and equipment to perform his surgical procedures on people's brains. Yet in the Ukraine he had to make do with whatever was available. This meant a quick trip down to the street market to buy a 12volt cordless drill to drill into people's skulls.

After using all this fairly crude equipment, Prof. Henry Marsh reflected that back in London he used £40,000 worth of disposables each year to do the same types of operations. This got me thinking about how complicated and even, dare I say it, sophisticated we make some things. I remember seeing a movie that featured a lady wanting to learn how to play better golf. She went to the club pro with all her golfing gadget accessories and announced that she was ready to learn how to play better golf. She had gadgets strapped to various parts of her body (including her head) and looked like Inspector Gadget's younger sister. The first thing the golf pro said to her was that she had forgotten that golf was about hitting a ball - not all the gadgets. Sometimes I wonder whether some believers may have forgotten that following Christ is about following Christ?

1Chr. 16:11 Seek the LORD and his strength;
seek his presence continually!

We should follow Christ daily, not merely once a week or once a month. It's quite simple. Start your day by seeking Him.

Seek Him in prayer. Seek Him in His Word. You don't gadgets to do this. All you really need to bring is your open heart.

Psa. 105:4 Seek the LORD and his strength;
seek his presence continually!

"God, I need You." It's a simple prayer. It's a seeking prayer. It's not a complicated list of conditions that God must first meet before you'll truly trust Him. It's not a shopping list of wants. It's almost as simple as the other prayer I pray to God even more: "Help."

Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap steadfast love;
break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the LORD,
that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

When we gather together Sunday, it is in response to a simple summons from our Lord - "do not neglect to gather together" (Hebrews 10:25). As we gather together this Sunday, it is for the simple purpose of worshiping God through singing, Communion, Offering, attention to the Word, and fellowship. When we broadcast what we do this Sunday it is for the simple reason of declaring to the world that God is great and exclusively worthy to be praised. For us in Tasmania, we face a simple challenge while we do these things. Based on the ABS Census figures which have just been released, while nationally 62% of Australian profess Christianity as their religion (down slightly from 64% on the previous figures), here in Tasmania we are faced with only 21.5% people professing belief in God (let alone Christianity)! Our God deserves better representation here. It's simple really.

Psa. 34:8 ¶ Taste and see that the LORD is good.
Oh, the joys of those who trust in him!

Ps. Andrew