Simple Isn't Easy

I am told that from the beginning Steve Jobs was insistent that the iPhone have only one button for operation.  Designers pushed back and tried different designs, but Jobs held fast to his original vision: one button only.  Eventually, of course (as was always the case with Jobs), his vision won out.  Why was this so important?  Simplicity.  If people were going to want what he was selling, it needed to be straightforward, simple and streamlined.

On Easter Sunday we discovered the Apostle Paul's affinity for simplicity as well.  He boiled the entirety of the gospel down to one phrase we must believe and confess with our mouths: Jesus is Lord!  Like the iPhone, however, it may be a one-button operation, but there is a lot of complex technology behind that one simple button.  Pushing the button gets you into the iPhone and gives you access to all sorts of wonderful apps, but there is more to experiencing all God has for us than simply seeing all the apps on the home screen.  If we are to enjoy it all, we must open the applications available to us and engage them.

Behind this all-important (one-button) confession is faith in who Jesus is, that God raised him from the dead and that his work on our behalf was enough.  This confession is not merely a statement of faith; it is a statement of a life that is transformed and is being transformed by the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  To name Jesus as Lord is to walk differently, live differently, talk differently, relate different, spend money, spend time and steward our lives differently than we did before.  Suddenly, "applications" we never dreamed of are available to us, at our fingertips and ready to be explored.

Naming Jesus as Lord, believing in our hearts that God raised him from the dead means something profound.  It changes us.  Suddenly we do not live only for ourselves.  We live for God and our faith contains works of compassion, mercy and justice as well.  As I said on Sunday, truly confessing Jesus as Lord necessitates a radical reorientation of the whole of our lives for the kingdom of God.  That's what Resurrection means, friends.  Once we have met Jesus and submitted to his lordship, we can never be the same.  Simply put, in Christ we become Easter People.

How has the resurrection of Jesus changed the way you live your life, how you relate to and speak to others, how you rank your priorities and spend your time?  Where has the resurrection yet to make the kind of difference in life it ought to make in your life?