Simple. Hard.
On Holy Monday, we remember Christ cleansing the temple and driving out the money changers. The painting below is from Cecco del Caravaggio, entitled Christ Expelling the Money-Changers (c. 1610).
Last week, I got a direct message on Twitter from someone who has been walking through scripture as a curious skeptic. “Do you really believe Jesus is God?” he asked.
My answer is yes, and you do not have to believe me. Just ask Him.
I believe in a living God.
Christians were considered atheists by the Romans because they believed in a living God. To the Romans, all the gods had to be dead. To believe in a living god was to believe in no god. So the Christians were atheists.
Christianity is, in fact, an atheist religion. We do not believe in a religion that tells you how to live your life to gain eternity. There are no steps to take. There is no “I” in the faith of the Christians. It is only “He.”
Christians believe that if we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, He does all the work. We do nothing. He regenerates us.
We overcomplicate things. We want it to be about ourselves. We want to feel in control. We want to do something. Sometimes, we do not even want to accept our sins are forgiven because surely that is too simple. We have to over-dramatize, over-complicate, and over-analyze.
Christianity is simple.
Put your trust in Jesus Christ. He is alive. If your heart is truly open to Him, He will transform your whole life. But you must surrender to Him.
As Christ drove out the money changers, we have to drive out the impediments to our relationship with Him. We have to drive out our desires to complicate the relationship and drive out our desire to make it about us. We want to change the money, do the sacrifice, say the right words, stand the right way, and do the thing to earn our salvation.
We cannot.
All we can do is surrender to Him. It is so simple and so hard. Cry out to Jesus. Make it about Him, not you. Drive out the money changers from your own thinking.
If He is alive, nothing else matters. If He is not alive, nothing at all matters. If I’m right, approach Him sincerely and openly. There are no right words and no proper incantations. Just talk to Him, and He will do everything.
Easter is coming.
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.”
-G.K. Chesterton
This is why I love your writing, Erick. This is Christianity, fundamentally. This is across the board what it is about. There isn't a Catholic spin, Presbyterian spin, Lutheran spin, Methodist spin, or any other spin on this. This is just simple faith Jesus was God made flesh to do what no other flesh could do, for all time. Well done Erick. You will continue to be the second thing I read every morning, right after Oswald Chambers. Thank you, sir.