Keeping Things Simple

We are all familiar with the children’s lullaby by Jane Taylor (1806)  Twinkle, twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are, Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky, Twinkle, twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are. 

However, there is another version, for the more cerebral. Scintillate, scintillate, globule vivific, Fain would I fathom thy nature specific, Loftily poised in ether capacious, Strongly resembling a gem carbonaceous. Try singing that version as you put your two-year-old to bed tonight, and see if they close their wee eyes and smile dreamily before nodding off.  Some things just lose their magic when we try to be too clever. 

The Gospel message is no nursery rhyme. It’s a life changing story that has changed the lives of untold millions for over two thousand years.  Although it’s a profound message with eternal consequences, yet it’s made to be conveyed in a way that even a child can understand it.  Its simplicity brings it within the reach of every man, woman, boy or girl. Whether educated or uneducated, lettered or unlearned, it’s still easily understood. No matter what language it’s translated into, it still retains its simplicity. Yes, there is without doubt a need for elaboration and explanation of the Gospel message.

The Apostle Paul was a highly gifted intellectual man. He had a forensic mind that could dissect the most difficult of theological questions. His Book of Romans is a masterclass of unparalleled theological exegesis of what the Gospel is all about. But when it came to presenting it to unbelievers, he kept it simple. He didn’t want to bamboozle his listeners with too much verbiage.  He chastised the Corinthian believers in 2 Cor. 11:3 when he said, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

I think we love John 3:16 for its simplicity, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him  should not perish but have everlasting life.” 

Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 2:2 to say, “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

The Greeks were debaters, philosophers, poets, orators and the like.  Paul would have been more than a match for them in any of these fields. But he deliberately chose to keep the message simple. 

Charles Swindoll has a sign in his study which reads, ‘Idiosyncratically eccentric phraseology is the promulgator of terrible obfuscation.’ On the back is a translation, ‘Big words cause confusion.’

Corrie ten Boom had an acronym she kept in her Bible when she was asked to give a public talk. K.I.S.S. ‘Keep It Simple Stupid.’

- Pastor David Goudy