For the past number of years there has been an increasing trend toward minimalism. This has influenced architecture, interior design, wardrobes and even coffee shops. There is an emphasis on quality over quantity. Many are agreeing that simplicity is attractive and that, “less is more”.
I recently heard about a coffee shop that not only prided itself in serving great coffee, but also chose not to make cream and sugar available to customers. After all, why present the option of ruining the perfect cup of coffee? This only makes sense to those deemed, “coffee purists”.
I’d be lying if I told you that I haven’t been influenced by the, “less is more” camp. I would rather pay more money for a quality, timeless peace of clothing that I’ll wear for years to come than purchase a whole bunch of cheap pieces that will need to be replaced way too often. When traveling, it feels good to pack light and only take that which is essential. But also, as I’ve thought about the popular movement toward simplicity, I have started to see how this type of thinking parallels that of the Kingdom.
When the Apostle Paul wrote his second letter to the Corinthians, he wrote to them partly in response to false teachers who had tried to dissuade the church from Paul’s pure and simple teaching of Christ’s Gospel. In Paul’s zeal for the simplicity of the good news he wrote, “But I am afraid that , as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).
That God the Father sent Jesus the Son to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God is simply the best news that the world could ever hear! The Gospel is so pure, so simple, yet so powerful. It needs nothing added to it, and may we never subtract anything from it. It is, “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people” (Colossians 1:26).
The Gospel doesn’t require our crafted articulation or spectacular presentation. It works by itself. Paul knew this when he wrote, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)
We live in a time when insight and revelation is abundant within the church. This is good, and I pray that it only increases. However, let us not allow a pressure to be profound distract us from the simplicity of the Gospel. May we continually fall in love with the best news the world has ever heard. And, may our response be a simple and pure devotion to Christ.