This scribe, whether it was to learn something for himself or to discredit the teachings of Jesus, asked the Lord which was the most important commandment. What Jesus did was to take every Old Testament law, including what is commonly known as the Ten Commandments, and simplify the entire Jewish faith (and the basis of the Christian faith) into two commandments: love God with all our heart and to love other people as we love ourselves. It is for this very reason that the apostle Paul wrote, For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church (Ephesians 5:29). Even Jesus summed up the second of the commandments in what we often cite as the “golden rule,” Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets (Matthew 7:12). At the root of our faith is that we, regardless of any other circumstances, should always show the love for Christ as we want done for us. This also means we are to forgive others, we are to reach out to others, we are to help others, we are to be kind to others, and we are to tell others about Jesus just as someone loved us enough to tell us about Him. This is one of the two ways we prove the truthfulness, sincerity, and simplicity of the Christian faith. Jesus tells all who will listen, If ye love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15). This is a commonsense observation for us to follow!
If we honestly and with a pure heart do these two major things and allow our love for the Lord to become the focus of all we do, we have been given this promise from the Lord Jesus: Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know (John 14:1-4). God has made the Christian faith as simple as can be; He made the Jewish faith as simple as can be. There are no great mysteries for our part. There are no great deeds, no great acts of devotion or dedication. Simply the commandment to love God above all else and treat other people the way we want to be treated. And as a result of having a child-like faith, we have the promise that He will come and take us to live in Heaven. Yes, the Christian faith really is that simple.
The beginning of faith in Jesus
The student that I was talking to had attended a church over the weekend and was confused about something that the preacher had said. While I do not know the exact denomination of the church, I will add that I take the scriptures literally. It is placing my faith fully in His repeated desires for us to have a child-like faith. No one questions anyone who cooks with a recipe. As someone who loves to cook, I have friends and family send me recipes all the time. My daughter even renamed one of my cookbooks into the “Book of Yum” because of the various foods I have made from its pages. No one questions me as I add a cup of flour, an eighth of a teaspoon of ground cloves, or a stick of butter into the bowl as long as I am following the recipe. We all have the expectation that the meal will turn out precisely the way we expect it to be – we have a child-like faith that it will be good. If we can do that with a recipe, then why is it so hard to take Jesus literally at what He said and then simply to believe it? To me, and in my walk of faith, it just makes commonsense to take Jesus at His word.
It is not about the several times you go to confession, the amount of money you’ve given to charity, or even how many times you pray a day. In the case of this young man, the church he had visited actually insisted that our salvation is a process. Before God will grant us mercy and grace, we must show the sincerity of our confession. At any time we sin once we have approached God for salvation, then we must begin the process all over again. This is not what Jesus taught, nor what the apostles preached in the early days of the church. Paul wrote, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (Romans 10:9). The apostle John wrote, Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God (I John 4:15). Jesus even told this simple message to Nicodemus: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:15-16). Yes, it is really and truly that simple to be saved.
